Wikipedia:Tip of the day/February 18

Using the Authority control template

Authority control systems assign a unique identifier to each topic, to allow precise identification of topics, and enable more accurate searches. The entries typically correspond to people, book titles, and similar well-defined entities.

The Authority control template links Wikipedia articles to the corresponding entries in library catalogs of national libraries and other authority files all over the world. This is why you may see several code numbers listed. As an example, the Wikipedia authority control information for the Alexander Graham Bell article looks like this: