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DATE: December 21, 2022
REVISED:
NAME: Attributes of Family in the MARC 21 Authority Format
SOURCE: PCC Standing Committee on Standards
SUMMARY: This paper proposes new and revised fields and subfields for accommodating address of family, field of activity of family, and occupation of family, and considers two options for recording other attributes of families in the MARC 21 Authority Format.
KEYWORDS: Field 376 (AD); Family information (AD); Field 368 (AD); Other attributes of person or corporate body (AD); Other designation (AD); Field 371 (AD); Address (AD); Field 372 (AD); Field of activity (AD); Field 374 (AD); Occupation (AD)
RELATED: 2009-01/1
STATUS/COMMENTS:
12/21/22 – Made available to the MARC community for discussion.
02/02/23 – Results of MARC Advisory Committee discussion: Preliminary comments did not reveal a strong consensus in favor of either option raised in the paper, ensuing in considerable deliberation at the meeting on the question of the choice between the two options. A straw poll favored Option 1 of enhancing the existing field 376 for attributes of families. The question of the change in terminology from "Person, Family, Corporate Body" to "Agent" was discussed and rejected following the results of another straw poll, which favored the former terminology. Concerns were voiced about the privacy and cataloging ethics that arise when recording "address" as an element. Though best practices outside of the MARC format would be highly desirable to further address this concern, it was felt that the issue should be mentioned in the follow-up paper. The paper will return as a proposal.
MARC Authority Field 376 (Family Information) was added in 2009 to accommodate elements from Original RDA: Type of family (RDA 10.3), Prominent member of family (RDA 10.6), and Hereditary title (RDA 10.7). Additional elements from Original RDA for attributes of family entities were accommodated in other MARC 21 Authority fields, such as Date associated with family (RDA 10.4) in Authority field 046 (Special Coded Dates), Place associated with family (RDA 10.5) in Authority field 370 (Associated Place), and Language of family (RDA 10.8) in Authority field 377 (Associated Language)
Meanwhile, subfield $c (Other designation) in MARC Authority field 368 (Other Attributes of Person or Corporate Body) was added in 2011 and then redefined in 2012 to accommodate two elements from Original RDA: Other Designation Associated with Person (RDA 9.6) and Other Designation Associated with Corporate Body (RDA 11.7). It is currently defined in 368 as follows:
$c - Other designation
An appropriate designation in the language preferred by the agency creating the data of an attribute of the entity that is not provided for in subfields $a (Type of corporate body), $b (Type of jurisdiction), or $d (Title of person).
MARC Authority field 381 was established in 2010 to accommodate Other Distinguishing Characteristics of Works and Expressions. There is no equivalent element in Original RDA for other designations associated with family entities, nor a MARC Authority field or subfield for other designations associated with family entities as there are for persons, corporate bodies, works, and expressions. There are no longer exact equivalents in Official RDA for the "other designation" elements from Original RDA for any of these entity types.
Despite the lack of a specific RDA element, field 368 subfield $c has been used to record other designations of family entities, as with persons and corporate bodies. Though inconsistent with the definition of the field, this incorrect use of 368 subfield $c demonstrates that catalogers do consider other attributes of families to be important to record, such as demographic group terms not accommodated in other fields. Establishing a subfield in which to record other attributes of families would bring families into greater alignment with the other agent entity types. In section 3, this paper considers two options for accommodating these other designations or attributes of families: the definition of a new subfield $d for other designations for families in Authority field 376, or a redefinition of Authority field 368 so as to accommodate other designations for families in 368 subfield $c as currently defined (Other designation).
While no element in Original RDA chapter 10 for address of family existed corresponding to those for Address of Person (9.12) and Address of Corporate Body (11.9), there is a new element in Official RDA for Address of Family. As currently defined, MARC Authority field 371 (Address) accommodates only addresses of persons and corporate bodies.
Similarly, a new element in Official RDA for Field of Activity of Family indicates a need for expansion of the definition of MARC Authority field 372 (Field of Activity) which currently accommodates field of activity only for persons and corporate bodies.
This paper proposes revisions to the scope and definition of Authority fields 371 and 372 and revisions to the definition of various subfields, to accommodate address and field of activity for family entities, as new elements in Official RDA.
Families can also have occupations. The Peale family of painters of Philadelphia and the Moulton family of silversmiths of Newburyport, Massachusetts are well-known examples (cf. https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/peale-family-of-painters/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moulton_family_(silversmiths)). Although RDA does not have an element for profession or occupation of family, it would be useful to be able to record family occupations in MARC authority records. This paper proposes revising Authority field 374 (Occupation) to include families.
(Note: Proposed revisions to current definitions are underlined and all examples are new.)
Two options are being considered for accommodating Other Attributes of Family: Define a new subfield $d in Field 376 (Family information) and redefine subfield $2, or Rename MARC Authority field 368 and update the definition and scope:
OPTION 1: Define a new subfield $d in field 376 (Family information) and redefine subfield $2 as follows:
$d - Other designation
An appropriate designation in the language preferred by the agency creating the data of an attribute of the family that is not provided for in subfields $a (Type of family), $b (Name of prominent member), or $c (Hereditary title), or in another field.Examples:
376 ## $d Maori (New Zealand people) $2 lcdgt
376 ## $d Chinese Americans $d Americans $2 lcdgt
376 ## $d Philanthropists $2 lcsh
376 ## $d Mormons $2 lcdgt
376 ## $d Democratic Party members (United States) $2 lcdgt$2 - Source of term
Specifies a code that identifies the source of a controlled form of the name in subfield $b.
Code from: Name and Title Authority Source Codes.
Specifies a code that identifies the source of a term for type of family in subfield $a or for other designation in subfield $d, when they are from a controlled list.
Code from: Subject Heading and Term Source Codes.OPTION 2: Rename MARC Authority field 368 and update the definition and scope as follows:
368 - Other Attributes of
Person or Corporate BodyAgent (R)Field Definition and Scope
Any attribute that serves to characterize a person, family, or corporate body or that may be needed for differentiation from other persons, families, or corporate bodies and for which separate content designation is not already defined.
For a person: Can include designations of the title of a person or other attributes.
For a family: Can include other attributes not accommodated in field 376 or elsewhere.
For a corporate body: Can include designations indicating the type of corporate body or jurisdiction, or other attributes.Examples:
368 ## $c Maori (New Zealand people) $2 lcdgt
368 ## $c Chinese Americans $c Americans $2 lcdgt
368 ## $c Philanthropists $2 lcsh
368 ## $c Mormons $2 lcdgt
368 ## $c Democratic Party members (United States) $2 lcdgt
Update the definition and scope of MARC Authority field 371 (Address), and redefine subfields $b, $c, $d, $m, $s, and $t as follows:
Field Definition and Scope
An address (as well as electronic access information such as email, telephone, fax, TTY, etc. numbers) associated with the entity described in the record. Multiple addresses, such as mailing addresses and addresses corresponding to the physical location of an item or facilities, are recorded in separate occurrences of field 371.
For a person: the address of a person's place of residence, business, or employer and/or an e-mail address.
For a family: the address of a family’s place of residence, business, or employer and/or an e-mail address.
For a corporate body: the address of the corporate body's headquarters or offices, or an e-mail address for the body.
Distinction between field 371 (Address) and field 370 (Associated place): Field 370 (Associated place) includes information about places associated with a person, a family, or a corporate body at the level of the country, the town, etc. Field 371 (Address) contains information relating to the location of a person, a family, or a corporate body, at which they can be found or reached (e.g., printed mail address, e-mail address, etc.).
Subfield Codes
$b - City
Name of city or town in address of a person, family, or corporate body.$c - Intermediate jurisdiction
Name of intermediate jurisdiction, such as state or province, in address of a person, family, or corporate body.$d - Country
Name of country in address of a person, family, or corporate body.$m - Electronic mail address
Electronic mail address associated with the person, family, or corporate body. If more than one electronic mail address applies, subfield $m is repeated.$s - Start period
The starting date associated with the address of a person, family, or corporate body.$t - End period
The end date associated with the address of a person, family, or corporate body.
Update the definition and scope of MARC Authority field 372 (Field of Activity), and redefine subfields $a, $s, and $t as follows:
Field Definition and Scope
For a person: a field of endeavor, area of expertise, etc., in which the person is engaged or was engaged
For a family: a field of endeavor or business, area of expertise, etc., in which the family 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.
The field is repeated if the entity has multiple fields of activity for different time periods.Subfield Codes
$a - Field of activity
A field of endeavor or area of expertise in which the person, family, or corporate body is or was engaged.$s - Start period
The starting date of engagement in a field of endeavor or field of business for a person, family, or corporate body.$t - End period
The end date of engagement in a field of endeavor or field of business for a person, family, or corporate body.Examples:
100 3# $a Peale (Family : $g Peale, Charles Willson, 1741-1827)
372 ## $a Painting $2 lcsh100 3# $a Moulton (Family : $c Newburyport, Mass.)
372 ## $a Silverwork $2 lcsh
Update the definition and scope of MARC Authority field 374 (Occupation), and redefine subfield $a as follows:
Field Definition and Scope
Information about profession or occupation in which a person or family works or has worked, including dates applicable.
The field is repeated if the person or family has multiple occupations for different time periods.Subfield Code
$a - Occupation
A profession or occupation in which the person or family works or has worked.Examples:
374 ##$acomposer$2[code for controlled vocabulary]100 1# $a Bacewicz, Grażyna
374 ## $a Composers $a Violinists $2 lcdgt100 3# $a Moulton (Family : $c Newburyport, Mass.)
374 ## $a Silversmiths $2 lcsh100 3# $a Peale (Family : $g Peale, Charles Willson, 1741-1827)
374 ## $a Painters $2 lcdgt
The changes proposed should have no impact on BIBFRAME, but the MADS format might need to be updated.
5.1. Should MARC accommodate recording of other attributes of family?
5.1.1. If yes, which of the options (OPTION 1: add new subfield $d to 376 or OPTION 2: expand scope of 368 to families) is preferable?
5.2. Do you agree that the proposed redefinition of the scope of fields 371 and 372 and their subfields accommodates new RDA elements Address of family and Field of activity of family?
5.3. Do you agree that MARC should accommodate recording of profession or occupation of families?
5.4. Throughout the above proposed revisions, would it be preferable to use the terminology "agent" instead of "person, family, or corporate body"?
5.5. Are there any other issues that should be considered?
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