Virtual Exhibit

Teresa, your pattern is sound. One seeming problem: When I use your link, it leads me to an article titled "Courtship: Patterns of Matching," rather than "Weddings: A Community Affair."

You also ask "what category of archived materials this virtual exhibit falls into." The descriptor at the site is a bit confusing. It tells us that the exhibit is "archived content" and that descriptor parallels the practice used by newspapers that offer current editions online as well as older issues in a module it calls an "archive." In fact, EE's site builder also created a module called "archives" for material that is not currently active (meaning, from the perspective of a web designer, that it's not featured on the main page). But the content that you are using, as well as the content in EE's "archive," is not traditional archival material.

Perhaps someone in our community has more perspective to share that call for a different citation pattern. Short of that, EE would say that from a citation perspective, you need only cite it as you would an online article.

T.A.

The key point in a source list is at 2.4, under “Source List (Bibliography): “This master list of materials we have used will not document any specific fact. … It typically omits descriptive [specific] because its function is to provide … a convenient list of materials.” In other words, the source list entry is a generic one. The reference note provides the specifics that say where in that source we can find the information to support a specific assertion we have made.

Citation issues for websites are greatly simplified if we think of a website as the online equivalent of a book. 

Basic practices for books:

1. If an entire book is written by the same author or set of author, then a source list (aka bibliography) typically cites the book itself. It doesn’t cite the chapter. It doesn’t cite the page.  It’s a generic citation for the book. Then for our ref notes, we cite the book and add the specific item of interest.
2. If a book consists of chapters written by different authors, and only a specific chapter is relevant to our research, then our source list would feature the individual chapter and its author (EE 12.39, 12.64).  identifying those two elements, it would then identify the book (and book editor) in which that piece of writing appears.
3. If a source list entry cites the book as a whole (i.e., emphasis on the book itself) then it would not point to a specific part of the book.
4. If we are interested in a particular section of a specific chapter in a book whose chapters are by different authors, then we would still follow No. 2 above. We would not pull out the section heading and cite it as a separate entity in the source list.

Online equivalent:

1. If an entire website is the work of one person or entity, then our source list would cite the website itself, in the same format we would use to cite a book.
2. If the website consists of numerous webpages/articles/databases by different individuals, then our source list would feature the individual author and individual title, then cite the website itself.
3. If a source list entry cites a website as a whole (i.e., emphasis on the website), then it would not proceed to identify an individual webpage/article/database.  (To put another way, if the individual webpage/article/database is worthy of noting in the source list, then it should be the featured item.
4. If we are interested in a particular section of a webpage/article/database, then we would still follow No. 2 above. We would not pull out the section heading and cite it as a separate entity in the source list.

Your situation involves No. 4.  When you queried about the ref note in February, your ref note was sound. (It differed a little from EE patterns, but was still sound.) You cited:

Author/creator, “Title of Webpage,” date of creation, format type, Website Title (Place of publication =URL : Date of access), specific item or section.

Now, for the Source List, you would cite all those same elements until you get down to the point of citing the specific item.  That specific would be dropped from the source list, leaving us with this:

Canada. Library and Archives Canada. “I Do: Love and Marriage in 19^th Century Canada.” Archived virtual exhibit created 2008. Library and Archives Canada. http://222.collectionscanada.gc.ca/love-and-marriage/index-3.html : 2013.

We could also simplify this, given that the website is eponymously named and no individual author is identified for the exhibit you are citing, we could simply start with the name of the exhibit:

“I Do: Love and Marriage in 19^th Century Canada.” Archived virtual exhibit created 2008. Library and Archives Canada. http://222.collectionscanada.gc.ca/love-and-marriage/index-3.html : 2013.

You’ll note that the Source List Entry does include the date of creation for the exhibit that is now archived as a webpage.  That date of creation should always be preserved because it speaks to the time frame, social mindset, etc., of the creation.

Incidentally, when you need to make italics in this forum, look below the message and you'll see an option: "Text format ... ."  Choose "Full HTML."