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.

Policy and formulation

• Restrict to actual fields of endeavor; don't apply to literary or artistic movements
• Use broad terms in 372; specific terms in 374. For example, Book industries and trade for Field of activity, and Publishers for Occupation
• 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 terribly obscure
• Use whichever controlled vocabulary is most convenient for the cataloger
• [TENTATIVE] Terms apply to both practitioners and scholars/critics. For example, Music for musicians and musicologists; Theater for actors and theater historians

Confirmed terms

For terms agreed on in second round of NACO training, winter/spring 2014-2015

372  Art ǂ2 lcsh
372  Book design ǂ2 lcsh
372  Book industries and trade ǂ2 lcsh
372  Christianity ǂ2 lcsh (for clergy and other professional Christians, and theologians)
372  Dance ǂ2 lcsh
372  Drama ǂ2 lcsh 
372  Education ǂ2 lcsh
372  English literature ǂ2 lcsh
372  Graphic arts ǂ2 lcsh
372  Graphic design (Typography) ǂ2 lcsh
372  Illustration of books ǂ2 lcsh
372  Law ǂ2 lcsh
372  Medicine ǂ2 lcsh
372  Music ǂ2 lcsh (for musicians and musicologists)
372  Poetry ǂ2 lcsh 
372  Photography ǂ2 lcsh
372  Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 ǂ2 naf
372  Theater ǂ2 lcsh 
372  Translating and interpreting ǂ2 lcsh
372  Universities and colleges--Administration ǂ2 lcsh
372  Writing ǂ2 lcsh [for those who write penmanship manuals or style guides]

Legacy terms

This section contains text copied from legacy files and may or may not reflect current information.

This is the list the catalogers came up when first being trained but before much experience in autumn 2013. All terms here should be reconsidered and others added.

Refer to the following list for terms commonly used in the 372:

(brainstormed... verified forms say so)

• Acting (for people known primarily as actors it is not necessary to use Theater as well)
• Book industries and trade ǂ2 lcsh (i.e., use the broad term for "field of activity" and a specific term for occupation, pending discussion on DCRM-L; goal: be able to move from more specific to more general and vice-versa by machine later, so need one type of term in one category, the other in the other).
• Calligraphy $2 lcsh
• Classical literature $2 lcsh (e.g. for commentaries on Virgil, translations from ancient Greek; there isn't a more specific term)
• Drama (for playwrights)
• Drawing
• English language |2 lcsh (added 21 Oct 2013)
• English literature $2 lcsh (added Oct. 9, 2013) [e.g. for a scholar translating Shakespeare]
• Illustration of books $2 lcsh
• Painting $2 lcsh AND $2 lctgm (always prefer lcsh? or prefer lctgm if it means not having to repeat a field? --Erin Blake (talk) 21:06, 7 January 2015 (EST))
• Poetry (for poets)
• Preaching $2 lcsh (added Oct. 9, 2013)
• Printmaking $2 lctgm
• Printselling -- but need to find an authorized form
• Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 |2 naf (for Shakespeare scholars, biographers, et al.)
• Theater $2 lcsh (i.e., theater-folk broadly speaking, incl. directing; also use narrower term "Acting" when appropriate)
• Translating and interpreting $2 lcsh
• Writing $2 lcsh (i.e., what people who write penmanship manuals do)

Considered, but rejected:

• Renaissance humanism (it isn't in lcsh, and it isn't a field of activity)

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 limitedby licensing agreements)
• DCM Z1 (372) (Access limited by licensing agreements)