Linked data stores house vetted content that can supplement the information available through online library catalogs, potentially mitigating failed author searches if information about the author exists in linked data formats. In this case study, a total of 689 failed author index queries from a large Midwestern academic library's online library catalog were re-run in seven linked data sources (Open Library, DBpedia, Freebase, New York Times Linked Open Data, NNDB, Virtual International Authorities File, and the Library of Congress Name Authorities), with 534 (78 percent) of the failed catalog queries yielding at least one hit in one of the repositories. Over half of the failed online library catalog queries examined were incorrectly formulated (n = 369), implying that some searchers of online library catalogs are unclear about the mechanics of left-anchored searching in author indexes. As a first step in becoming part of the linked data information ecosystem, librarians should consider providing access to existing linked data stores through the online library catalog as a way of mitigating failed author searches for personal names. Librarians should also consider facilitating author searches by only permitting keyword searches of the author index, continuing to carefully maintain authority records for authors in their collections, and facilitating discovery and the explicit statement of relationships through the future use of linked data in library catalogs. (Contains 2 tables, 3 figures, and 1 note.)