OLAC Best Practice for date of publication
Prerecording
Prerecording
Always record for published resources other than objects. For objects, do not record the element if a value is not known or readily available. For digital reproductions, follow PCC Provider-Neutral E-Resource MARC Record Guidelines and use the date of the original manifestation as the publication date. For born digital resources, follow PCC Provider-Neutral E-Resource MARC Record Guidelines and use the date of the earliest iteration as the publication date. For online video games, use the release date on the game homepage.
Recording
Condition Option
LC/PCC practice:
LC/PCC practice: Apply the option. Supply the value in square brackets.
LC/PCC practice: For multipart monographs, serials, and manifestations of integrating works for which the date or dates of publication cannot be approximated, do not apply the option and do not record a date of publication.
LC/PCC practice: See the Metadata Guidance documentation: Manifestation: date of publication: CIP cataloging.
Recording an unstructured description
Condition Option
Follow LC-PCC practice. If the resource is of a type that does not ordinarily carry identifying information (naturally occurring objects, DVD-Rs, etc.), omit square brackets.
LC/PCC practice:
LC/PCC practice: Apply the option. Supply the value in square brackets.
LC practice: For graphic materials, follow DCRM(G) 4D4 to supply a conjectural date.
Condition Option
Date of publication not identified
Condition Option
Recording a structured description
Recording an identifier
Recording an IRI
Document Date: 2026/02/06
Document: https://access.rdatoolkit.org/en-US_ala-48d75399-6137-3fbe-aec0-041534142beb