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Princeton University Library MODS Documentation: Dates

The following attributes apply to all 4 of these date elements. If a date cannot be displayed properly using a date element with attributes, include a mods:dateOther element with no attributes for the desired display form, and, in addition, encode the date as best as possible using the closest matching pattern described below.

Use of these attributes is a little confusing, and it may be easier to look for a pattern that matches the date you wish to record in the examples below.

[date element]/@encoding

[Required if Applicable] Encoding is only used when it is possible to code a date in w3cdtf format (YYYY-MM-DD). The format can be abbreviated to YYYY or YYYY-MM.

[date element]/@point

Point is used when we need to express a date range. The two values used are "start" and "end".

[date element]/@keyDate

[Required] One of the date elements must have a keyDate. The value is always "yes". keyDate designates which date will be sorted on. It is not repeatable.

[date element]/@qualifier

[Required if Applicable] The three values for qualifier are "approximate", "inferred", and "questionable". In AACR2 terms, approximate is equivalent to "ca.", inferred is equivalent to brackets, and questionable is equivalent to ?

Additionally, the type attribute may be used on mods:dateOther to indiciate other types of dates not covered by mods:dateIssued, mods:dateCreated, and mods:copyrightDate. If the type attribute is not present, the content of the mods:dateOther element is assumed to be a display form of the date, and, as such, none of the other date elements will display.

mods:dateOther/@type

[Required if Applicable] At present there are two supported values:

phonograph

Generates a "p" in front of the date

hijri

Indicates the date is relative to the Hijri calendar. In this case, a mods:dateOther[@type = 'hijri'] with the Hijri date encoded, a mods:dateOther without a type attribute for the display form, and an "XXXX or YYYY" formated pair of dates that map the date to the Gregorian calendar shoudl be included.

postmark

Generates the label "Postmark date:" and displays separate from the other origin information.

Examples

The following examples illustrate the display behavior for various permutations of the attributes explained above. mods:dateIssued and mods:dateCreated behave exactly the same and are therefore interchangeable in the examples below. mods:copyrightDate and mods:dateOther have different, generally less complex behaviors.

Pattern: 1975
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes">1975</dateCreated>
Pattern: 1930-
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" point="start">1930</dateCreated>
Pattern: -1930
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" point="end">1930</dateCreated>
Pattern: [1930]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="inferred">1930</dateCreated>
Pattern: [1930]-
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="inferred" point="start">1930</dateCreated>
Pattern: -[1930]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="inferred" point="end">1930</dateCreated>
Pattern: [1930?]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="questionable">1930</dateCreated>
Pattern: [1930?]-
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="questionable" point="start">1930</dateCreated>
Pattern: -[1930?]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="questionable" point="end">1930</dateCreated>
Pattern: [ca. 1979]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="approximate">1979</dateCreated>
Pattern: [ca. 1979]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="approximate" point="start">1979</dateCreated>
Pattern: [ca. 1979]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="approximate" point="end">1979</dateCreated>
Pattern: [193-]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="inferred">1930</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" qualifier="inferred">1939</dateCreated>
Pattern: [193-]-
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="inferred" point="start">1930</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" qualifier="inferred" point="start">1939</dateCreated>
Pattern: -[193-]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="inferred" point="end">1930</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" qualifier="inferred" point="end">1939</dateCreated>
Pattern: [193-?]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="questionable">1930</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" qualifier="questionable">1939</dateCreated>
Pattern: [193-?]-
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="questionable" point="start">1930</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" qualifier="questionable" point="start">1939</dateCreated>
Pattern: -[193-?]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="questionable" point="end">1930</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" qualifier="questionable" point="end">1939</dateCreated>
Pattern: [19--]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="inferred">1900</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" qualifier="inferred">1999</dateCreated>
Pattern: [19--]-
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="inferred" point="start">1900</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" qualifier="inferred" point="start">1999</dateCreated>
Pattern: -[19--]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="inferred" point="end">1900</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" qualifier="inferred" point="end">1999</dateCreated>
Pattern: [19--?]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="questionable">1900</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" qualifier="questionable">1999</dateCreated>
Pattern: [19--?]-
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="questionable" point="start">1900</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" qualifier="questionable" point="start">1999</dateCreated>
Pattern: -[19--?]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="questionable" point="end">1900</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" qualifier="questionable" point="end">1999</dateCreated>
Pattern: c1992
<copyrightDate encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes">1992</copyrightDate>
Pattern: p1992
<dateOther type="phonograph" keyDate="yes" encoding="w3cdtf">1992</dateOther>
Pattern: 1967, c1965
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes">1967</dateCreated>
<copyrightDate encoding="w3cdtf">1992</copyrightDate>
Pattern: [1981], p1975
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="inferred">1981</dateCreated>
<dateOther type="phonograph" keyDate="yes" encoding="w3cdtf">1975</dateOther>
Pattern: 1930-1979
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" point="start">1930</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" point="end">1979</dateCreated>
Pattern: [1930]-1979
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" point="start" qualifier="inferred">1930</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" point="end">1979</dateCreated>
Pattern: 1930-[1979]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" point="start">1930</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" point="end" qualifier="inferred">1979</dateCreated>
Pattern: [1930-1979]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" point="start" qualifier="inferred">1930</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" point="end" qualifier="inferred">1979</dateCreated>
Pattern: [1930?-1939?]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" point="start" qualifier="questionable">1900</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" point="end" qualifier="questionable">1939</dateCreated>
Pattern: [1930?]-1939
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" point="start" qualifier="questionable">1900</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" point="end">1999</dateCreated>
Pattern: 1930-[1939?]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" point="start">1900</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" point="end" qualifier="questionable">1999</dateCreated>
Pattern: [ca. 1930-1939]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" point="start" qualifier="approximate">1901</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" point="end" qualifier="approximate">2000</dateCreated>
Pattern: [ca. 1930]-1939
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" point="start" qualifier="approximate">1900</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" point="end">1999</dateCreated>
Pattern: 1930-[ca. 1939]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" point="start">1900</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" point="end" qualifier="approximate">1999</dateCreated>
Pattern: [between 1930 and 1949]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="approximate">1930</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" qualifier="approximate">1949</dateCreated>
Pattern: [between 1930 and 1949?]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="questionable">1930</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" qualifier="questionable">1949</dateCreated>
Pattern: [1992 or 1993]
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="inferred">1992</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" qualifier="inferred">1993</dateCreated>
Pattern: 1967 printing
<dateOther>1967 printing</dateOther>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes">1975</dateCreated>
Pattern: 1697 [i.e. 1967]
<dateOther>1697 [i.e. 1967]</dateOther>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes">1967</dateCreated>
Pattern: 1963 [i.e. 1971]
<dateOther>1963 [i.e. 1971]</dateOther>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes">1971</dateCreated>
Pattern: [between 17--? and 19--?]
<dateOther>between 17--? and 19--?</dateOther>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" point="start">1700</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" point="end">1999</dateCreated>
Pattern: 5730 [1969 or 1970]
<dateOther>5730 [1969 or 1970]</dateOther>
<dateOther type="hijri">5730</dateOther>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="inferred">1969</dateCreated>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" qualifier="inferred">1970</dateCreated>
Pattern: 4308 [1975]
<dateOther>4308 [1975]</dateOther>
<dateOther type="hijri">4308</dateOther>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="inferred">1975</dateCreated>
Pattern: [4308 i.e. 1975]
<dateOther>[4308 i.e. 1975]</dateOther>
<dateOther type="hijri">4308</dateOther>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes" qualifier="inferred">1975</dateCreated>
Pattern: anno 18 [1939]
<dateOther>anno 18 [1939]</dateOther>
<dateCreated encoding="w3cdtf" keyDate="yes">1939</dateCreated>