Authorities are a helpful way of providing data catalogers with a list of controlled vocabularies. This helps ensure data consistency across a collection. Authorities are created in the Collection Manager by designating a field group as an Authority. The values for these authorities can be added individually in the Record Editor or uploaded in bulk via the Uploader.
On this page:
Managing Authorities
If you have permission to makes changes to an authority you'll see the Manage Authorities button next to the New Record button in the Library. When you mouse over the button you'll see the list of available authorities. In the example below there are 6 different authorities within this collection.
When you select an authority you'll be taken to a list view wherein all available data values for that specific authority are listed. Let's pick "SubjectHeadingsGroup" as an example. When this authority was created in the templates section of the Collection Manager there were 2 fields added to the SubjectHeadingsGroup field group, "Subject" and "General Subject":
These two fields are now represented in the authority: 
To edit a value in the authority select it and click on the edit icon. Or, you can select several and click on the Edit option from the Edit Menu. Click on the trash icon to delete it.
Once you are in the edit mode simply make the desired edits and save. You can also use the Show records using this authority button to help give you an idea of which records will be affected by any changes to the value. Any edit made to a value will be reflected in ALL the records that use that authority value.
Applying Authorities
The Record Editor is where you add or edit data, including populating fields with authority values
You'll know a field is associated with an authority when it's grouped under the field group name and has the term Authority in grey next to it. In the example below the field group Order Group is an authority. The Order Group authority has 3 fields associated with it, Order Number, Course Number and Instructor, and Order Description. So for each of these 3 fields in your record you can apply an authority value from the Order Group authority.
To apply a value simply start typing into the value field and you'll quickly see a list of available values. When you find the right one just select it.
You can also create a new authority value when you are in the edit mode in the Record Editor by simply typing in a new value. The new value will in turn get added to the authority list of values. In the example below we created a new authority value by typing "Rococo" into the Style or Period field within the StylePeriodGroup authority. Be sure to save the record.
Note: You must have the right permission to create a new authority value in the Record Editor.