1. It's a Date: Publication and Copyright Dates
Welcome to It’s a Date: Publication and Copyright Dates. I am your presenter, Shelley Stone. The beginning of this presentation will be limited to dates for books since it is such a complex topic and all date information can not be covered in 10 to 15 minutes. I have added a few brief slides on sound recording and video recording dates. After the presentation you may ask questions about dates in books or other formats and then about any other cataloging topic, as time permits.
September 2018 Online with the CMC, Shelley Stone, Cataloging Supervisor, IHLS,

2. Publication Date Core element
Usually found on the title page or title page verso
Could also be found on the cover, caption, title page substitute, colophon, etc.
Most important date when matching
What does it look like?
Published in 2004
Revised edition 2012
May accompany the publisher’s name on the title page
The publication date is the most important date. It is a core element and must be included in the bibliographic record if available. The publication date can be found on the title page or t.p. verso or cover, etc. Sometimes the publisher is kind enough to spell it out in plain English “published in 2004”, other times it accompanies an edition statement, or it may appear on the title page below the publisher’s name.

3. Publication Date
Title Page Title page verso A String in the Harp Puffin Books by Nancy Bond Published by the Penguin Group New York, New York, USA Puffin Books First published by Atheneum, 1976 Published in Puffin Books, 1987 Copyright © Nancy Bond, 1976
Can you find the publication date for this book? This publisher told us exactly what the publication date is, but watch for previous publication dates by different publishers – This book has a 1987 publication date

4. Publication Date Title Page Title page verso
INVISIBLE STANLEY Invisible Stanley Text copyright ©1996 by Jeff Brown
by Jeff Brown Illustrations copyright ©2003 by Scott Nash pictures by Scott Nash HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY 10019
HarperTrophy PZ7.B81422In
An imprint of HarperCollins Newly illustrated Harper Trophy edition, 2003
Can you find the publication date for this book? This publication date is shown at the bottom of the title page verso with the edition statement. You often need to read through lots of other information before finding the publication date.
2003, pub. date

5. Publication Date Title page Title page verso
THE COW-TAIL SWITCH Copyright 1947 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
AND OTHER WEST AFRICAN STORIES
Published, January, 1947
By Harold Courlander and George Herzog Second printing, July, 1949
Drawings by Madye Lee Chastain Third printing, May, 1954
Fourth printing, October, 1957
Fifth printing, May, 1961
Sixth printing, November, 1962
Holt, Rinehart and Winston Seventh printing, May, 1965
New York * Chicago * San Francisco Eighth printing, March, 1966
Can you find the publication date for this book? Ignore printing dates except for First printing dates. Later printing dates do not matter unless there is some wording like 3rd revised and updated printing or 2nd printing, with corrections.
This book, 1947 pub date

6. Publication Date
Title page Title page verso Sister Sister A Minstrel Paperback Original SUMMER DAZE A Minstrel Book published by Pocket Books Janet Quin-Harkin Copyright © 1997 by Paramount Pictures A Minstrel Book ISBN: Published by Pocket Books First Minstrel Books printing, August 1998 New York London Toronto
Can you find the publication date for this book? First printing dates are treated as publication dates. Since the publisher doesn’t specifically state that the book is published in 1998, we should bracket the first printing date in the bib record. [1998]

7. Future Dates
You receive a newly-published book by a best-selling author. The title page verso has “Published in 2019.” Is it okay to have a future date in a bibliographic record?
Yes
If this book is received in the library in four years, no one will know that it was actually published at the end of It is best to use the publication date listed on the item.

8. Copyright Date
If there is no publication date, look for the copyright date.
A copyright date will either have a copyright symbol © or the word copyright in front of the date.
Can be used as an implied publication date and will appear in the bibliographic record in brackets: [2005]
The copyright date is not required in a bib record – Do you have a local practice?
Remember that the publication date is a core element in RDA so catalogers have to assume that the book with a copyright date of 2005 was probably published in Since we are using 2005 as an implied publication date, we must put it in brackets as the publication date. The copyright date is not required in bib records but many libraries have local practices about whether or not to add the copyright date in the bib record. I think it is a good idea to add the copyright date to show where the implied publication date came from, but that is just my opinion. You need your own local policy.

9. Copyright Date Title Page Title page verso
Tom Horn Copyright © 2001 Chip Carlson and Susan Carlson
Blood on the Moon
Dark History of the Murderous Cattle
Detective
Chip Carlson
With a foreword by Larry D. Ball
High Plains Press
This book does not have a publication date. We would bracket 2001 as our implied publication date in the bibliographic record.

10. Copyright Date Title Page Title page verso S T I C K S STICKS
Copyright © 2016 by CJ Swan for the text
CJ Swan Copyright © 2017 by Dana Zimmerman for the illustrations
Illustrations by Dana ISBN
Zimmerman LCCN
SWAN STORY
Can you find the copyright date? This title page does not show a publication date. Therefore, we want to show a copyright date in our bibliographic record. We want to choose the copyright of text, not illustrations. We may, however want to use the illustrations copyright as our implied publication date. [2017] as pub date in 264 _1 and copyright 2016 in 264 _4

11. Multiple Copyright Dates
Title page Title page verso Knitting Made Easy Published by Coats & Clark, Greenville, South Carolina 3th Edition ©2005, 2007, 2009 by Barbara Aytes Coats & Clark Greenville, SC
If you have no publication date but multiple copyright dates, which one do you choose for matching? 2009

12. Copyright Renewal Dates
For works published before 1978, ignore the copyright renewal date. Use only the original copyright date.
For works published after 1977, give the copyright renewal date.
In 1977 the copyright law changed. Before 1977 the copyright was renewed every time more books were printed even though no changes were made to the content. After the law changed, the copyright was only renewed when there were changes in the content. Textbooks usually have a string of copyright dates. Textbooks are revised and updated with each new edition and the copyright is renewed. When dealing with classics, and no publication date is available, use the oldest copyright date if it is before 1978.

13. Copyright Renewal Dates
Title page Title page verso A Christmas Carol Published by Grosset & Dunlap ©1939, © renewed 1943 By Charles Dickens Illustrated by William Mark Young Grosset & Dunlap
If there is no publication date, record the copyright date. The copyright date in this case is 1939 because the book printed in 1943 is no different than the book printed in 1939.

14. Cataloger-supplied Dates
The cataloger should estimate a date if no dates are available
Estimated dates are recorded in brackets
If based on available information such as a printing date: [2012]
If cataloger made best guess: [2012?]
If only a range of dates can be estimated: [between 1990 and 2000]
If no date can be estimated, as a last resort: [date of publication not identified]
What if there is no publication date or copyright date?

15. Dates in MARC Records MARC tag 264, subfield c
Publication and copyright dates are recorded in separate fields
264 _1 $a Chicago, Illinois : $b Lion Publishers, $c 2012.
264 _4 $c ©2010
No ending punctuation on the 264 for copyright date
Since publication date is a core element in RDA, record the copyright date in brackets as an implied publication date if no publication date is available
264 _1 $aChicago, Illinois : $b Lion Publishers, $c [2012]
264 _4 $c ©2012
Dates were previously recorded in the 260 subfield c when cataloging with Anglo-American Cataloging Rules. With Resource Description and Access, the 264 is used.
You may have a local practice about whether or not to add the copyright date in the bibliographic record. If your local practices tell you to add it, this is how they will look.

16. Dates in MARC Records—Fixed field elements
Coded based on the dates in 264 subfield c
DtSt: Type of Date/Publication Status
Categorizes the type of date, i.e., s for single date, or t for publication and copyright dates
Dates: Date 1 and Date 2
Enter publication date as the first date
Enter copyright date as the second date
This slide is extremely abbreviated. If you need more information, please refer to OCLC’s Bib Formats & Standards. There are many good examples in BF&S for questionable dates, reprints, serials, etc.

17. Sound Recording Dates Usually appear on label
If not, dates should be taken from the container or accompanying material, in that order
Preceded by a phonogram copyright symbol ℗
Can be used as an implied publication date and will appear in the bibliographic record in brackets: [2005]
Dates on sound recordings are similar to dates on books except the copyright date is preceded by a p. This is called the phonogram date or copyright of recorded sound. Make sure to use a date for the work as a whole not a particular song from the album. Just like with books the copyright or copyright of sound is used as an implied publication date in the bib record.

18. Sound Recording Dates Dates to keep in mind
LPs first available in 1948
Pre-recorded audio cassettes first available in 1965
Audio compact discs first available in 1982
MP3-CDs first available in 2000
Playaways first available in 2005
Streaming audio first available in 1999
These are the dates when each kind of medium became available. If the date 1968 appears on the disc surface of a CD, then you should realize that this is the date the music was recorded, but could not possibly be the date that it was released as a CD because CDs were not available until 1982.

19. Videorecording Dates Usually found on the container
The copyright date on the film itself (screens) is usually when it was filmed not when it was released as a videorecording
Since publication date is a core element, the copyright date of the videorecording is used as an implied publication date and will appear in the bibliographic record in brackets: [2005]
Watch for copyright date of package and design
The copyright date is usually found at the end of the film. However, this is not the date that it was released on DVD or other videorecording format. The container may have a copyright date for package and design. If this is the only date, you can use it as an implied publication date, but we prefer to find the actual copyright date for the video.

20. Videorecording Dates Dates to keep in mind
Blu-ray discs first became available in 2006
DVD-Videos first available in 1996 (Japan) and 1997 (USA)
Streaming video first available in 1999
VHS cassettes first available in 1976
If your Blu-ray disc has a date of 1980, that can not be the date for that medium. It is probably the date when the motion picture was released.

21. Resources
OCLC’s Bibliographic Formats and Standards
MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data
RDA Toolkit