User:MartyD/ProposedDateHelp

Here is the second draft of proposed help text for publication dating, to replace Template:PublicationFields:Date. See this Rules & Standards discussion for background. Please enter comments on the discussion page.

Ideas for shortening / text reduction especially wanted!

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• Date - The date of publication, in the form YYYY-MM-DD. The list below provides instructions for how to determine the date. DO NOT GUESS. Some date handling details are different for different types of publications. See Dating Periodicals and Dating Books for handling details specific to those publication types.
  • General Publication Date Policy - The ISFDB records a publication's date, as best it can be determined, according to the following general rules:
    • Start with the publication's stated publication date as the basis unless known to be/demonstrably for another printing or a misprint, in which case the inappropriate date should be recorded in the publication notes and otherwise treated as if absent.
    • A missing date, or a correction for an inappropriate date, may be supplied from secondary sources, as long as the source is recorded in the publication notes, along with the publication's original statement (or lack thereof). See Secondary Sources.
    • The base date optionally may be made more precise (e.g., supplying the month or day of publication) using information from a secondary source, if that source's date is otherwise consistent with publication's stated date. The source, and which details of the date were obtained from that source, must be recorded in the publication notes. See Secondary Sources.
    • Discrepancies between the publication's stated date and dates from secondary sources should be recorded in the publication notes.
  • Partial/Incomplete Dates - If the day or month is not known, use 00 in its place. Examples:
            1956-00-00 - "Published 1956"
        1956-11-00 - "Published November, 1956"
        1956-11-26 - "Published November 26, 1956"
  • Future Publication Dates - ISFDB captures records for some publications that have been announced for release in the future.
    • New publications announced for the near future (within the next 90 days) should be given that future publication date.
    • Do not create records for newly announced publications scheduled for release more than 90 days into the future, as these plans often change.
    • New publications announced for the future but with an unstated or unknown release date should be given the date 9999-00-00. Do not use this if the date is stated or known, and do not use this as a substitute or placeholder for a publication with an announced date more than 90 days into the future.
  • No Publication Date - When a publication's date is unknown or unavailable, use one of these special date values:
    • 0000-00-00 - the publication date is unknown
    • 8888-00-00 - the publication was announced (to be released in the past) but was not published.
    • 9999-00-00 - the publication has been announced (to be released in the future), with no known scheduled release date.
  • Dating Periodicals - Except for reprints (see Reprints), use the issue's "cover date", regardless of when the issue became available. The date usually appears on the cover or web page. If more than one month is stated, use the earliest year and month, e.g. "December 1959/January 1960" should be entered as "1959-12-00". For cover dates that cannot be assigned to a specific month, use the year only, e.g. "Spring 1943" should be entered as "1943-00-00".
    • If a more specific publication date consistent with the cover date is available, that may be used, as long as its source is recorded in the publication notes.
    • Reprints should be given the date of the publication of the reprinting, with the source of the date recorded in the publication notes (follow the instructions in Dating Books).
    • Discrepancies between the cover date and any other source of date should be recorded in the publication notes.
  • Dating Books - Follow the General Publication Date Policy, and see Secondary Sources for more information about other sources of dates. A source used that is not the publication itself must be recorded in the publication notes, and recording of the book's actual statement (or lack thereof) is strongly encouraged.
    • Try to find a statement (often on the verso of the title page) that says something like "Published in June 2001"; the copyright date is often misleading, since works can be reprinted. Look out for signs that this is a reprint; indications often include a series of numbers (e.g. "3 4 5 6 7 8 9") at the bottom of the verso of the title page; this particular string indicates that this is a third printing. If you know you are holding a reprint, and there is no way to date that particular publication, use one of the special date values described in No Publication Date. Note that we are interested in recording each different reprint of a publication, since there can be some significant differences between them, such as cover art, or price.
  • Discrepancies Between Stated Date and Reality - Publication date does not always perfectly match the calendar date. For example, a January issue of a magazine is usually available in December of the previous year, and often earlier than that. Books with a January publication date may often be bought in the closing weeks of the prior year; they will show the later year's copyright date, even though that year has not yet started. In these cases, the convention is to use the official publication date rather than to try to identify when a book actually first became available. If there is a large discrepancy -- for example if a book was printed but unexpectedly delayed before release -- then this can be noted in the notes field.
  • Secondary Sources of Dates - A "secondary" source is any source other than the publication itself. Dates, and date details, may be obtained from any of the following secondary sources, as long as the source and the publication's original statement are recorded in the notes. Editors are encourage to provide page numbers or (stable) links for the secondary source information, where available. This list is roughly in descending order of how authoritative ISFDB considers them. For sources other than those with first-hand involvement, bibliographic databases and library catalogs are usually more authoritative than other sources, such as reviews or interviews. Also, databases and catalogs in the same country or region as the publication are usually more authoritative than databases and catalogs based elsewhere. Editors are strongly encouraged to seek independent corroboration of dates from sources lower in the list.
    • First-hand participant (publisher, editor, author, contributor, artist) website/blog/catalog
    • A later printing/edition's historical publication statement
    • Other bibliographic databases and library catalogs, such as the ISFDB Verification Sources (list and details)
    • Second-hand participant (new book seller website/catalog, new book announcement/list, new book review, etc.)
    • Calculation based on codes, known announcement + publication timings, etc. (e.g., for book clubs)
    • Other sources, such as interviews and used book seller websites/catalogs