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I was on vacation last week and so am coming to this discussion late.  Since the discussion has centered on using LCSH plural terms versus uncontrolled singular terms I wanted to add to the discussion that I have been experimenting with using $2 onet terms (http://www.onetonline.org/) in field 374.  There is still the problem of plural terms but it does usually yield much more specific occupation titles.  For example a search for a controlled term for a civil engineering professor in LCSH would be "College teachers" or "College science teachers" but in onet you can use "Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary".

In regards to time spent adding the additional 3XX fields I have taken the course of adding anything that I find in the course of cataloging the item, or in the search of verification that my person either is or is not the person represented by an already created authority record.  So the only part that really takes additional time is searching for a controlled term in 372/374.  Time will tell if controlled terms are worth the additional time spent.

I must say that I have been frustrated by old authority records which had minimal information with the statement "Do not confuse with ..." without giving you any information to help you in keeping the two people separated.  Based on those experiences I am more willing to spend another minute or two on an authority record and record the additional information that I find during the course of cataloging the work.

Thanks,
Vicki


Vicki Brueck
Senior Cataloger
Resource Management Services Branch
State Library of North Carolina
4641 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, N.C.  27699-4641
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From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Charles Croissant
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 12:16 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [PCCLIST] terms for occupations in field 374

We recently completed our RDA NACO training at my library, and during that experience, one issue came up that we would like to see more discussion on:

Should terms used in the 374 field of authority records to express a person's occupation be in the plural or singular?

In our training, we saw examples of both singulars and plurals being used in 374.

Since such terms, in this context, pertain to an individual, it seems sensible to use singular nouns, such as Engineer (see NAR nb2012014836).

As I understand it, one reason for including such terms in the 374 is that they could be used as needed to break a conflict with another individual of the same name, by being placed in a subfield c of the 100. In such a case, they would necessarily be used in the singular.

On the other hand, catalogers like to draw on controlled vocabularies, and some catalogers have started drawing on the class-of-persons terms in the Subject Authority File. Such class-of-persons terms are in the plural (Engineers, Architects, Educators), so if they were ever needed for placement in a subfield c of a 100 field, they would have to be modified.

The DCM Z1 for the 372 field contains a nice example contrasting 372 with 374, using singular forms in the 374:

Example: 372<http://desktop.loc.gov/template.htm?view=document&doc_action=setdoc&doc_keytype=foliodestination&doc_key=maauth372&hash=372> ## $a Poetry $a Education
Occupation used in 374<http://desktop.loc.gov/template.htm?view=document&doc_action=setdoc&doc_keytype=foliodestination&doc_key=maauth374&hash=374>: 374<http://desktop.loc.gov/template.htm?view=document&doc_action=setdoc&doc_keytype=foliodestination&doc_key=maauth374&hash=374> ## $a Poet $a Educator

Some of us feel this would be the preferable practice.

But this is contradicted, it seems, in the DCM Z1 for the 374, which states:

"Prefer controlled vocabulary, such as LCSH or MeSH, recording the source in subfield $2<http://desktop.loc.gov/template.htm?view=document&doc_action=setdoc&doc_keytype=foliodestination&doc_key=maauth374SPACEDOLLAR2&hash=374SPACEDOLLAR2>.  For consistency, capitalize the first term in each subfield $a<http://desktop.loc.gov/template.htm?view=document&doc_action=setdoc&doc_keytype=foliodestination&doc_key=maauth374SPACEDOLLARa&hash=374SPACEDOLLARa>.  When terms do not come from a controlled vocabulary, use a singular form."

This gives catalogers permission to use plurals (drawn from LCSH). Another consequence of this statement is that it will lead to a mix of plural and singular forms in the 374 - this seems like a less-than-optimal solution.

Is LCSH the best controlled vocabulary to use for terms for occupations? There may be other controlled vocabularies available that are better suited to this task, in that they use singular forms of the term.

Is there a PCC Task Force that dealt with this issue, and concluded that using plural forms of occupational terms is best practice? If so, perhaps someone from that group could summarize their reasoning (it's really hard to keep up with the large number of documents being issued on RDA/NACO-related subjects-- )

Charles Croissant
Senior Catalog Librarian
Pius XII Memorial Library
Saint Louis University
St. Louis, MO 63108