Dates

Dates may be formatted differently depending on where they are used. In all cases, years should be expressed with 4 digits unless part of a proper title. For more guidance 

Formatting for Narrative Fields

Dates in narrative text (i.e., notes) follow a month, day, then year format. When citing year ranges, do not use dashes and include all digits. Examples follow:

• October 12 (not October 12th)
• October 12, 1952  (when used in narrative the year should be followed by a comma)
• September 1990 (no comma)
• 1980s (no apostrophe)
• 1872 to 1888 (not 1872 to 88)
• from 1940 to 1960
• between 1980 and 1990
• The 21st century; 21st-century technology

Formatting for Collection Level Description and Component Lists

Normalized Dates

In normalized fields, all dates should be entered in the ISO 8601 Standard, as follows:

• general-to-specific approach — the year first, followed by month, then day
• each element is separated by a hyphen ("-")
• Numbers less than 10 are preceded by a leading zero
• YYYY or YYYY-MM  or YYYY-MM-DD 

Date Expressions

If date is approximate, includes months and days, and/or includes significant gaps in date ranges a date expression should also be entered. Dates are still formatted as year - month  - day, however the month should be written out. Do not repeat years or months in expressions of date ranges. Semesters may also be referenced in the date expression.

• 2014 July 12-14
• 2007 August 12 - October 31
• 2009 April 5 - 2010 May 1
• 2016 September
• 2015 Fall

Note any significant gaps in date ranges. Separate single dates or ranges with a comma.

• 1903, 1950-1955
• 1965, 2009

For approximate dates, add qualifiers.

• circa 1952-1978
• circa 1975 August
• 1892 or 1893
• before 1920
• after 1920
• 1980s

If a date is not able to be determined, use "undated."

Using the Date Module

Add new date to a collection, series, file, or item by clicking the “Add Date” button.