ISAARCF

ISAARCF is an acronym whose exact meaning is not standardized in current archival literature, and there is no widely published ISAARCF specification from major archival bodies. Unlike ISAAR(CPF), the International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families, which is well established, ISAARCF does not have a universally accepted expansion or formal framework recognized across libraries and archives. In practice, ISAARCF may appear as a local abbreviation within a particular institution, a project-specific extension to metadata models, or a typographical variant of more established terms.

Because ISAARCF lacks an official definition, its scope, structure, and semantics are not documented in a universal reference. When ISAARCF is encountered, the responsible party should consult the project documentation, data dictionary, or governance records to determine its intended meaning. It may be used as a shorthand for a subset of archival authority concepts, or as a placeholder awaiting alignment with recognized standards.

For interoperability and data exchange, organizations often plan to map any ISAARCF elements to established standards such as ISAAR(CPF) or ISAD(G), ensuring consistent authority control for corporate bodies, persons, and families. Clear documentation and crosswalks are essential to prevent ambiguity when ISAARCF appears alongside widely adopted archival metadata standards.

See also: ISAAR(CPF); ISAD(G); International Council on Archives; archival authority records; metadata standards.