If you really need a salve for your conscience after consigning some poor law professor to the realm of genocidal maniacs you could use the 680 "Public general note":
680 ## $a So-and-so is a professor of law specializing in the adjudication of war crimes and genocide. e.g. Benjamin Abrahamse Cataloging Coordinator Acquisitions and Discovery Enhancement MIT Libraries 617-253-7137 From: Resource Description and Access / Resource Description and Access [mailto:RDA-L@listserv.lac-bac.gc.ca] On Behalf Of Robert Bratton Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2013 8:35 AM To: RDA-L@listserv.lac-bac.gc.ca Subject: Re: [RDA-L] The meaning of 372 Field of Activity Field of activity is pretty broadly defined in RDA 9.15 as a: "field of endeavour, area of expertise, etc., in which a person is engaged or was engaged." You could propose that Field of endeavour and Area of expertise be two separate data elements, but for now they are lumped together. Being in a law library I have run into this issue because legal academics often write about unsavory topics. When I put terms like "Rape" or "War crimes" or "Family violence" in the Field of activity data element I often pause and think, "Wait, am I making it sound like this person is a perpetrator of these things?" Thus: 372 $a War crimes $a Genocide $2 lcsh 374 $a Law teachers $a College teachers $a Authors $2 lcsh and 372 $a War crimes $a Genocide $2 lcsh 374 $a War criminals $a Generals $2 lcsh For the punk rock example you could also have: 372 $a Punk rock music $2 lcsh 374 $a Punk rock musicians $2 lcsh and 372 $a Punk rock music--History and criticism $2 lcsh 374 $a Music critics $2 lcsh Robert -- Robert Bratton Cataloging Librarian George Washington University Law Library Washington, DC 20052 On Thu, Nov 14, 2013 at 7:33 AM, Moore, Richard <richard.mo...@bl.uk<mailto:richard.mo...@bl.uk>> wrote: Ricardo All you are doing with "372 Punk rock music", is expressing that the person has that field of activity. It's the 374 that tells you their occupation, in relation to that field: 372 $a Punk rock $2 lcsh 372 $a Punk rock musicians $2 lcsh or 372 $a Punk rock $2 lcsh 372 $a Music critics $2 lcsh and of course you can put more than one thing in 372: 372 $a Punk rock $a Musical criticism $2 lcsh 372 $a Music critics $2 lcsh Regards Richard _________________________ Richard Moore Authority Control Team Manager The British Library Tel.: +44 (0)1937 546806 E-mail: richard.mo...@bl.uk<mailto:richard.mo...@bl.uk> From: Resource Description and Access / Resource Description and Access [mailto:RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA<mailto:RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA>] On Behalf Of Santos Muñoz, Ricardo Sent: 14 November 2013 10:07 To: RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA<mailto:RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA> Subject: [RDA-L] The meaning of 372 Field of Activity Hello again. I'm wrangling with some of the 3xx fields for authority records, in order to produce some policy for using some of them in a coherent and fruitful way. I'm facing some problems, and neither the MARC field itself, nor RDA instructions, nor the use I've seen out there gives me a clear view. The main bump in the road is field 372. Let's say I'm working on Joseph Stalin. I'd like record and retrieve him as a politician (374), as a member of Communist Party of the Soviet Union (373), but I'd like to relate him with communism. So, recording "Communism" in 372 seems perfect for that purpose. But I would also record Comunism in 372 for a scholar historian on communism. Summing up, if I record 372 Punk-rock, Am I expressing that the guy is a musician (374), specialized in doing punk-rock music, or Am I indicating that he/she is a music critic (374), expert on punk-rock music? Thanks in advance for opinions and experiencies. Ricardo Santos Muñoz Depto. de Proceso Técnico Biblioteca Nacional de España Tfno.: 915 807 735 ************************************************************************** Experience the British Library online at www.bl.uk<http://www.bl.uk/> The British Library's latest Annual Report and Accounts : www.bl.uk/aboutus/annrep/index.html<http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/annrep/index.html> Help the British Library conserve the world's knowledge. Adopt a Book. www.bl.uk/adoptabook<http://www.bl.uk/adoptabook> The Library's St Pancras site is WiFi - enabled ************************************************************************* The information contained in this e-mail is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended for the addressee(s) only. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete this e-mail and notify the postmas...@bl.uk<mailto:postmas...@bl.uk> : The contents of this e-mail must not be disclosed or copied without the sender's consent. The statements and opinions expressed in this message are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the British Library. The British Library does not take any responsibility for the views of the author. ************************************************************************* Think before you print
