Layer or no Layer (Part 2)

By wayneson on Wed, 01/11/2023 - 12:38

Forums

Dear EE,

In an earlier thread (http://www.evidenceexplained.com/node/2121) you guided me in crafting a schoolbook on Ancestry citation:

"U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-2016," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/371611395:1265 : accessed 20 December 2022), image 30; imaging p. 26 of Wellsboro High School (Pennsylvania), The Nessmuk, vol. 3 (N.p.: n.p., 1932), “Seniors” photos of Wayne Knowlton and sister, Rita Knowlton.

My objective was to choose the option which would provide a "master source list" entry. That has been accomplished. At the risk of beating a dead source, I wish to pose three questions regarding this type of citation:

  1. Would merely replacing the semicolon following "image 30" with a comma, and eliminating the bridge phrase, legitimately convert this to a single layer citation with overly-stuffed specific item field?

"U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-2016," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/371611395:1265 : accessed 20 December 2022), image 30, Wellsboro High School (Pennsylvania), The Nessmuk, vol. 3 (N.p.: n.p., 1932), “Seniors” photos of Wayne Knowlton and sister, Rita Knowlton.

2. Can it be said that the vast majority (excluding personal web pages) of online citations will be at least 2 layers?

3. In the case of multi-layer citations, can we presume that each layer will include a specific item field (each unique to that layer)?

I ask these with the understanding that an online citation that leads with the original source will always include 2 or more layers.

I hope this will be my last visit to this topic (red-faced).

Submitted byEEon Wed, 01/11/2023 - 19:23

Wayneson:

Q1. Yes.

Q2. Yes.

Q3. Not necessarily. 

  • For a book or an unpublished manuscript, we almost always need a specific item field, following the basic format for book and authored manuscripts.
  • For a website, we almost always need a specific item field, given that its format is also the basic book format.
  • For an original document housed in an archive, we do not use the publication format. The complexity of archival collections involves a different set of elements and a different hierarchy that require an entirely different format; see EE 3.1. 
  • If that original document is imaged online, we still use the same format for that type of record, in the layer in which we identify the record; the basic book format is then used for the layer in which we identify the published website.

The QuickStart Guide tucked into the front of EE from the 2015 edition forward demonstrates all these situations.