Date
Definition
Original date of release or broadcast of a Work, or of its creation/production (FIAF 1.3.4).
Date
DatType/Date1/2 (008)
Publication, Distribution, Manufacture, and Copyright Notice (264)
Where will you find the information?
the container
accompanying material
wrapper of metadata in a digital file
reported by authoritative secondary sources such as filmographies, censorship visas, etc
watch/listen to the item (the date may appear on the title screen or in the end credits, often as a copyright notice). If there is no date, it may be possible to infer it from the content (e.g. by working out the date of an event depicted such as a conference).
Rules
The date should primarily refer to the date of creation or production of a title. However, one title may have multiple dates associated with it, for example if the year of production differs from the year of first publication. If this is the case, record both dates and note to what each refers.
For items created across a range of dates, use earliest and latest date (specific dates or other contextual information can be added in description field if required for archival material, or in notes fields for published material in Sierra).
Do not use 'no date' or 'n.d.'; everything can have at least a vague date, provide an estimate or date range if necessary.
Notes
FIAF manual places emphasis on date of release or broadcast for identifying a Work, and that date of creation or production should be provided in the absence of this. It says, though, that ‘there is no primary or “preferred” year or date except within the context of the type of Work and, where applicable, its Variants.’ In practice we would use date of creation.
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