Over the last three decades, a number of major changes in the field of cataloging have led to the definition of new forms of authority control. The introduction of FRBR and of IFLA LRM have been followed by continuing studies, including, more recently, the implementation of linked data in library catalogs, as well as improvements to data models in order to ensure the broadest possible interoperability among systems. A new approach to authority control and its connected services can be based on the combination of manual and automatic processes of data validation and enrichment, together with the use of knowledge bases as authoritative sources. This will also grant wider data interoperability, opening up a new level of cooperation among the international institutions and organizations concerned with the dissemination of knowledge.