ISAAR(CPF)

ISAAR(CPF)
Name	ISAAR(CPF)
Caption	International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families
Released	2003
Publisher	International Council on Archives
Language	English, French

ISAAR(CPF) ISAAR(CPF) is an international standard for authority records for corporate bodies, persons, and families developed by the International Council on Archives and finalized in 2003. It provides guidelines used by archival institutions such as the National Archives (United Kingdom), the Library and Archives Canada, the United States National Archives and Records Administration, and the Archives nationales (France) to describe creators in collections and to interoperate with standards like MARC21, EAD, and Dublin Core. The standard has influenced implementations in national systems including Archives New Zealand, State Records New South Wales, Bundesarchiv (Germany), and regional projects linked to the European Union cultural heritage initiatives.

Introduction

ISAAR(CPF) was published by the International Council on Archives after drafting by experts from institutions such as the British Library, the Library of Congress, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. It defines a model for authority records intended to work alongside descriptive standards used by the National Archives (United Kingdom), the National Library of Australia, and the Vatican Apostolic Archive. The standard aligns with conceptual frameworks promoted by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions and complements related standards from bodies like the International Organization for Standardization.

Scope and Purpose

The scope of ISAAR(CPF) addresses identification and contextual description of creators found in archival materials held by institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Royal Archives (United Kingdom), and the National Archives and Records Administration. Its purpose is to enable consistent authority control for entities like the United Nations, the European Commission, the World Bank, and notable individuals represented in archives such as Winston Churchill, Marie Curie, Nelson Mandela, and Ada Lovelace. ISAAR(CPF) supports interoperability with metadata formats used by the Getty Research Institute, the International Council on Museums, and digital repositories including Europeana.

Structure and Content Elements

ISAAR(CPF) prescribes elements for identity, description, control, and relations, referenced by institutions like the Council of Australian Archives, the National Library of New Zealand, and the Canadian Council of Archives. Core elements include authorized form of name, parallel forms, dates of existence, places associated with the entity, functions, activities, mandates, sources, and relationships to other entities such as the British Museum, the World Health Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and individuals like Sigmund Freud or Marie Stopes. The standard's structure parallels fields used in MARC21, EAD, MODS, and authority files maintained by the Virtual International Authority File and the Library of Congress Name Authority File.

Implementation and Adoption

Adoption of ISAAR(CPF) has been promoted by national agencies including the National Archives of Australia, the Trove initiative, the Archives New Zealand, and the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (Mexico). Implementations integrate ISAAR(CPF) with systems like AtoM (Access to Memory), catalogues at the British Library, and discovery platforms such as Europeana. International programmes including projects funded by the European Commission and partnerships with the International Council on Archives and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions have supported translations and localized profiles used by the State Records of South Australia, the Archives nationales du Québec, and the German National Library.

Relationship to Other Standards

ISAAR(CPF) is designed to work with descriptive and authority standards including MARC21, EAD, Dublin Core, MODS, and conceptual models like the FRBR family of standards and RDA. It is often mapped to authority systems such as the Virtual International Authority File, the Library of Congress Name Authority File, and national registers maintained by the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Projects integrating ISAAR(CPF) also interact with preservation standards promoted by the International Organization for Standardization and digital library initiatives led by organizations like the Open Archives Initiative.

Criticism and Limitations

Critics from institutions including researchers at the University of Oxford, the University of Toronto, and the University of Amsterdam note limitations in ISAAR(CPF) for representing complex relationships such as those in corporate histories of entities like Siemens, General Electric, East India Company, and multinational bodies like the European Commission. Scholars linked to the Archives and Records Association and practitioners at the National Archives (UK) have pointed to challenges mapping ISAAR(CPF) to linked data frameworks used by the Wikidata community and semantic web projects advocated by the World Wide Web Consortium. Limitations include ambiguity in granular role encoding compared with models such as EAC-CPF and the need for extensions for cultural institutions like the Smithsonian Institution.

Examples and Use Cases

Use cases of ISAAR(CPF) include authority files for creators in the holdings of the British Library, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the National Archives and Records Administration, and regional projects such as Europeana Collections. Systems like AtoM (Access to Memory), integrated catalogues at the Library of Congress, and national portals at the National Library of New Zealand illustrate practical implementations. Case studies include authority records for figures such as Charles Darwin, Florence Nightingale, Leonardo da Vinci, and institutions like the Rockefeller Foundation, demonstrating interoperability with the Virtual International Authority File and discovery services run by the European Commission cultural programmes.

Category:Archival standards