Cataloger's Reference Shelf
Cataloging Rules for the Description of Looseleaf Publications with
Special Emphasis on Legal Materials
Cataloger's Reference Shelf
Cataloging Rules for the Description of Looseleaf Publications with
Special Emphasis on Legal Materials
4F. Date of Publication, Distribution, Etc. (Publication, Distribution, Etc. Area)
[PREAMBLE. The application of AACR 2 rule 1.4F2 ("Give the date as found in the item even if it is known to be incorrect. If a date is known to be incorrect, add the correct date") and its predecessors (rule 141 to AACR 1 and rule 139 of Revised chapter 6, AACR 1) to looseleaf materials has in the past resulted in frequent inadvertent duplication of bibliographic records for the same publication. For unlike other institutions, the Library of Congress receives under the copyright law, in addition to the regular updating service received within the year, complete updated copies updated within a year. Such an in toto updated copy has a new (replacement) title page that carries a new publication or copyright date, or both. Literal application of rule 1.4F to looseleaf materials results in handling such updated copies as editions of the work. The examples below illustrate three bibliographic records prepared inadvertently for copies of a single work received at different stages of update:
A bibliographic control system that entails using a single record is viable only is all institutions use as the date of publication the initial date, i.e., first date of publication or copyright (or, as temporary date, the earliest date known), not the date of a revised title page that differs at a given time on copies in different institutions and even on copies within the same institution.]
Give as the date of publication the year when the edition, revision, etc., named in the edition area was first published (5). If there is no edition statement, give the date of the first publication of the edition to which the item belongs. Give dates in Western-style Arabic numerals. If the date of publication is not known, give the earliest copyright date in its place, if it is known.
If neither of these dates is known, record as a temporary date the earliest known date of publication or copyright date (usually gleaned from the publication itself). (6)
If the original date or earliest known date differs from the date of publication or copyright date given in the (latest) chief source, i.e., record, in square brackets, the date or copyright date the item was first published; or, as temporary data, the earliest date known. Give an appropriate note if the source of date is other than the publication itself.
In describing a publication that is still being published, give the earliest date only, and follow it with a hyphen and four spaces (7). Do not add the ending punctuation (see LCRI 1.OC)
When the publication has ceased, record inclusive dates.
When the publication has ceased and the final date of the chief source of information differs from that of the date (year) of the latest updates within the publication, correct it to the date (year) of the latest updates within the publication, if this information is easily found.
See also: