1.4F. Date of publication, distribution, etc.

Table of Contents:

Non-Gregorian Dates:

If the item gives both the Gregorian and the non-Gregorian dates, record only the Gregorian date.

Later Publication Dates:

LC/PCC practice: If a U.S. trade publication has a publication date that is in the year following the year in which the publication is received, accept the later publication date as the date of the edition being cataloged. For example, if "2002" appears as the publication date on a publication received in 2001, give "2002" as the publication date.

Library of Congress CIP Cataloging:

LC practice: For the cataloging of LC CIPs at the galley stage, take the date of publication from the year given in the "projected publication date" provided by the publisher on the CIP data sheet. At the CIP verification stage, adjust this information, if necessary, according to normal procedures for non-CIP and post-CIP cataloging.

Printing Dates:

If a publication date is transcribed, e.g., from the prescribed source of information, and the item also contains a later date that represents the date the item was first manufactured, use the date of manufacture as the basis for inferring the true publication date (an item cannot be published until after it is manufactured). Such inferences must be bracketed, even when the inferred year of publication turns out to be the same as the stated date of manufacture. In all cases, introduce the resulting corrected date of publication with "i.e.," the whole enclosed by square brackets.

title page: 1986

verso of title page: printed 1987

bibliographic record: 1986 [i.e. 1987]

Dates of manufacture are normally indicated by explicit statements. In the case of GPO imprints, dates of printing are indicated implicitly by location:

1. dates found in numerical identifiers on signatures in U.S. Congressional documents (e.g., 70-7780-81-2, meaning printed in 1981, at the foot of p. 13 of a document) should be routinely taken as dates of printing.

title page: 1980

signature number: 70-7780-81-2

bibliographic record: 1980 [i.e. 1981]

2. dates found in GPO colophons should be routinely taken as dates of printing.

title page: 1986

colophon: 1987

bibliographic record: 1986 [i.e. 1987]

For the recording of printing dates additional to publication dates - when correction is not involved - see LCRI 1.4G4.

Multiple Dates:

If the date on the item appears as a multiple date, give it as found. Follow it with the actual or approximate date as a correction within brackets.

1978/79 [i.e. 1979]

1978/1979 [i.e. 1978?]

1978/9 [i.e.1978 or 1979]

Option Decision:

LC practice: Apply the optional rule to materials other than books and printed serials whenever the copyright date of the item is different from the date of publication etc. (For books and printed serials, do not add a copyright date after the publication date.)

LC practice: For LC original cataloging, if a copyright date other than a phonogram copyright date is being recorded, transcribe the copyright date preceded by a lowercase "c"; transcribe the phonogram copyright date preceded by a lowercase "p." When either "©" or "" is used in other than LC original cataloging, retain it and treat as a "pass through" data element.

Applicability:

If the edition being cataloged (LCRI 1.0) lacks a date of publication, etc., apply the following:

1. If the item contains only a copyright date, give the copyright date. (See also LCRI 1.4F7.)

preface signed: June 1980

transcription: c1980

preface signed: June 1981

transcription: c1982

Ignore copyright renewal dates for works first copyrighted before 1978. If the copyright dates vary, give the latest date for works copyrighted after 1977.

If a copyright date is being recorded, transcribe copyright dates other than a phonogram copyright date preceded by a lowercase "c"; transcribe the phonogram date preceded by a lowercase "p."

2. If the item contains a copyright date and a date of manufacture and the year is the same for both, give only the copyright date. Do not add the date of manufacture.

transcription: c1980

3. If the item contains a copyright date and a date of manufacture and the years differ, give the copyright date. Add the date of manufacture (1.4G4).

preface signed: June 1978

transcription: c1978 (1980 printing)

4. If the item contains only a date of manufacture, apply the following in the order listed:

a. Give the date of manufacture in brackets as an inferred date of publication, etc., if it can be assumed that the date of manufacture and the date of the edition being cataloged are identical; for books this means that the item is assumed to be the first printing of the edition.

t.p. verso: First Printing 1980

transcription: [1980]

b. Give the date of manufacture.

t.p. verso: 15th Impression 1980

transcription: 1980 printing

Later Copyright Dates:

LC/PCC practice: If a U.S. trade publication lacking a publication date has a copyright date that is in the year following the year in which the publication is received, accept the later copyright date as a substitute for the publication date. For example, if "©2002" appears on a publication received in 2001, give "c2002" as the publication date.

Indication of Manufacture:

Materials other than printed books rarely show a date that could be called a "date of manufacture." In rare cases in which such items do indeed bear such date, it is unlikely that it will be recognized as such unless it is accompanied by a word or phrase indicative of manufacture. Whenever possible, the cataloger’s designation to indicate that the date is one of manufacture should be derived from this accompanying word or phrase. If there is no word or phrase, the cataloger should use his or her imagination or knowledge to fit the particular item. If this fails also, there’s the very general word "manufacture" found in rule 1.4F6 itself, e.g., "1967 manufacture."

Option Decision:

Apply the optional provision of the rule.

Option Decision:

LC/PCC practice for serials: Do not apply the option; if information is known, give it in a note ( 362 1).

LC/PCC practice for integrating resources and multipart items: Apply the option on a case-by-case basis when the bibliographic resource includes an explicit statement (e.g., "Created on March 10, 2001;" "Began publication in 1998"); give that specific date in the 260 subfield $c. Generally, do not investigate beyond the resource to find such a date. When the option can't be applied, give any available estimated date information (e.g., a questioned date, more than one possible date, a span of dates) in a 362 1 field.

362 1# $a Began in 2000?

362 1# $a Began in 2001 or 2002.

362 1# $a Began between 1997 and 1999.

not 362 1# $a Began in 2002.

Qualifying Multiple Dates:

If multiple dates need to be qualified (e.g., because they appear in non-Gregorian years or the item shows copyright dates that differ from the publication dates), record the qualifying dates after the inclusive dates for the earliest and latest volumes.

1386-1388 [1979-1981]

not 1386 [1979]-1388 [1981]

1979-1981 [c1978-c1980]

not 1979 [c1978]-1982 [c1980]

Multipart Items and Serials: Date of Publication

If the date of publication of the first issue or part is later than the publication date of a subsequent issue or part, give information about the publication date of the first issue or part in a note.

260 ## $a Chicago : $b American Library Association, $c 1967-

362 0# $a Vol. 1-

500 ## $a Vol. 1 published in 1969.

Incomplete Multipart Items: Temporary Dates

LC practice: See LCRI 1.0C. LC/CONSER Practice for Temporary/Uncertain Data.