Provisional authority records (PARs) are identified in fixed fields by the presence of code c in fixed field 008/33.

NACO participants usually create provisional authority records in the following instance:

If the contributing library does not have the language expertise to establish the heading as a fully established authority record; this includes situations where the library lacks adequate reference sources for research, the cataloger is not confident of his ability to determine the correct grammatical form of heading, or correct romanization is lacking (e.g., Cambridge University has a music score by a Russian composer, but the only form of the name on the work is in French).

NACO participants usually create provisional authority records for headings that conflict with already established headings.  This includes headings that normalize to the same form.  The NACO member should consult his LC liaison for guidance on language and other areas of expertise, so that such headings and references can be fully established at the time they are contributed.

See also:

Section I:  New Authority Records