I realize that the following is a minor point, but clarity in language is something dear to my heart, so I will put it out there:

I'm preparing a name authority record for a gentleman who is a clergyman in the Church of England. I ran a search in Connexion (dx:rda and en:reverend) to see how the title "Reverend" was being recorded in RDA authority records.

I expected to find the term recorded as a title, that is, in 368 subfield $d.

I found some instances of that, but was surprised to find quite a few more instances of "Reverend" in 374 subfield $a.

To my mind, "Reverend" is a respectful title and a form of address (it is so defined in the Oxford English Dictionary).

It is not an occupation -- the proper term for that would be "Clergy" -- so we should not be recording it in the 374 field, which is defined as Occupation.

So this is a friendly plea to consider recording the term "Clergy" in 374 $a, but Reverend (when properly backed by the person's usage) in 368 $d. If others have different thoughts about where to record "Reverend" in an authority record, it would be good to have some discussion of those views.

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