MARC 372 Field of Activity

MARC field 372 in the authority format contains information:

• For a person: a field of endeavor, area of expertise, etc., in which the person is engaged or was engaged
• For a corporate body: a field of business in which the corporate body is engaged; its area of competence, responsibility, jurisdiction, etc.

This field is repeatable.

Commonly-used tags

Indicators

Undefined

Subfield delimiters

ǂa Occupation (R)
ǂs Start period (NR) 
ǂt End period (NR) 
ǂ2 Source of term (NR)

Policy and formulation

• Refer to local constant data (in the Shared Authorities file in Connexion) for frequently-used terms.
• Prefer AAT or LCSH; however, any controlled vocabulary is acceptable.

Persons

• Restrict to actual fields of endeavor; don't apply to literary or artistic movements.
• Use broader terms in the 372 field, and specific terms in the 374 field.

372  ‡a Book industries and trade ‡2 lcsh
374   ‡a Publishers ‡2 aat

• Use Shakespeare as field of activity for all people who have anything to do with Shakespeare--which we know because we're cataloging it--even if it's only one thing and the person is completely obscure.
  • Other personal name headings may be used in 372, but apply these more conservatively than with Shakespeare.
• Terms can indicate both practitioners and scholars/critics. For example, use Music for musicians and musicologists; Theater for actors and theater historians.

Corporate bodies

• Use broader terms in the 368 field, and specific terms in the 372 field.

368  ‡a Business (business enterprises) ‡a Publishing houses ‡2 aat
372  ‡a Book industries and trade ‡2 lcsh
372  ‡a Publishing ‡2 aat

External links

• MARC Authority 372
• MARC Authority 372 in Cataloger's Desktop (Access limited by licensing agreements)
• LC guidelines for MARC Authority 372 in Cataloger's Desktop (Access limited by licensing agreements)
• DCM Z1 (372) (Access limited by licensing agreements)