Primary Valuation (Griffiths) Ireland

Maryelizaf, EE covers various versions of Griffith's Valuations at 11.63 and 11.65. In the third edition, the coverage spans pages pp. 634–37.

Robyn, the most important thing to remember when our citation involves layers is that details from one layer should not be mixed in with details from another layer.

Using your citation above I went to the URL and found the search boxes. However,

• The name of the website that I’m seeing is PRONI: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. I’m not seeing nidirect government services.
• When I filled the query boxes there with the requested names of county, parish, and personal name, using the data above. I got no results.
• When I used the VAL number that you report in the “citing” layer, I was given another long list of place names on which I looked for all of the several different names you cite above. One of those, the Drumbo name, took me to the book.
• The cover of that book is imaged so I can see for myself exactly what I would be seeing if I were physically there.
• The viewer told me there were 90 images, so I turned to "12"—that being the number you gave above. But, Somerville wasn't on that page. The penned page number on image 12 is actually 8.  Thumbing four more images, I found the original p. 12 easily enough.

So, yes, your data "gets us there" and tells us considerably more than we need to re-locate the record, but the manner in which it's given is confusing because the details from the original book are given intermittently with the details from the database. To find the right record in that database, users have to wade through many place names that are irrelevant to the database, to find the two that the database needs, but even then the user doesn’t have the database image number.

Let's try sorting out the differences here, keeping these two principles in mind:

• With a database that includes images, we have two choices: We can either feature the database or feature the record/record set that's being imaged.
• When we cite the database, we need to cite the exact URL or give the path that takes us to the right image.

Emphasis on record:

“Irvinestown Union, Irvinestown E.D., Co. Fermanagh, VAL/12/B/27/9A, ” p. 12, John Somerville, Barony of Lurg, Parish of Derryvullan; imaged at "Search Valuation Revision Books (VAL 12B)," database with images, PRONI: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (http://apps.proni.gov.uk/Val12B/Search.aspx : accessed 2 May 2016) > VAL/12/B/27/9A > Drumbo (townland) > image 16 of 90.

Here, you will notice that all the data given in the first layer, the layer that identifies "Book," page, individual, distinguishing data, are details physically visible to us when we view the images. All the details in the second layer are those we need to get us to the right image within the database. If we reverse our priorities, we still keep those elements in their same arrangement.

Emphasis on database:

"Search Valuation Revision Books (VAL 12B)," database with images, PRONI: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (http://apps.proni.gov.uk/Val12B/Search.aspx : accessed 2 May 2016) > VAL/12/B/27/9A (1864–1868) > Drumbo (townland) > image 16 of 90, for “Irvinestown Union, Irvinestown E.D., Co. Fermanagh,” p. 12, John Somerville, Barony of Lurg, Parish of Derryvullan.

You will notice that neither case uses the phrase “citing … .” The principles or distinctions that apply here are these:

• If our source were a database entry that cites something we are not physically seeing and cannot verify for ourselves, then we would say “citing [Whatever]"—meaning that our source is telling us that it used Whatever, and we're just repeating what it says.
• If our source were a database with images but it showed page or partial-page images without showing any identifying book/collection title or accession number, then we would have to rely on whatever identification the database gives us—in which case we would say “citing [whatever].”
• In this case, we can see for ourselves, right there on the book cover, the title of the book and the accession number. We aren’t just copying what the database tells us is the source. Therefore, we don’t need to say “citing.” We simply cite what we see, and then we identify the website and database that provides the images.

Robyn, you wrote:

I realise that the record result shows 90 images, but I thought that by specifying p. 12 (penned), that it would be regarded as being page 12 of the book/record, and not as image 12 of 90. So I am a little confused about your point of:

The viewer told me there were 90 images, so I turned to "12"—that being the number you gave above. But, Somerville wasn't on that page. The penned page number on image 12 is actually 8.  Thumbing four more images, I found the original p. 12 easily enough.

Let me try explaining it a different way.

• In the portion of the citation in which you identify the database, the specific spot that you reference is the image number assigned by the database.
• In the portion of the citation in which you identify the original book, the specific spot that you reference is the page number in that book.

You also wrote:

I thought that by specifying Drumbo (townland) Fermanagh (county) and Derryvullan (parish), it would enable others to find the record. Perhaps I should have been more specific and added a path; i.e. Placename > Drumbo, County > Fermanagh, Parish > Derryvullan. The reference to this Revision Book VAL/12/B/27/9A obviously relates to other townlands besides Drumbo, so if one follows the path as above, they would perhaps find the record with less difficulty? But where would I place that path?

No, you should not have added those other place names into the path. They represent "helpful information" and "personal identifiers." As such, they are included in the citation. But they are not part of the path created by the database--the path we follow within that database to get to the image we want.

The path is this:

(http://apps.proni.gov.uk/Val12B/Search.aspx : accessed 2 May 2016) > VAL/12/B/27/9A (1864–1868) > Drumbo (townland) > image 16 of 90.

In other words, to reach the image, we do this:

• We type the URL http://apps.proni.gov.uk/Val12B/Search.aspx.
• We are asked for a VAL number, so we type VAL/12/B/27/9A.
• We are then given a long list of placenames to choose from, so we choose Drumbo.
• We are then told that there are 90 images and we are given a screen in which to type the exact image number, so we type 16.

At that point, we have arrived at the correct page of the original book, so we start a new layer in which we record all the details that identify the original.

If we add into the path all the other known placenames (Irvinestown Union, Irvinestown Electoral Divison, County of Fermanah, Parish of Derryvullan, Barony of Lurg), then we confuse the issue because those are not waypoints or markers used by the database path. Some of them are pieces of information we could use at the initial search screen to help us find an unknown entry, if we do not know the VAL number; but when we know the VAL number, we take a spcific path to get to the image and those other pieces of information aren't in the path that takes us to the image.

Where do we place the path? The two examples that I gave in my last message demonstrate where to place the path, depending upon whether our citation emphasizes the database or the record.

You also wrote:

Placename > Drumbo, County > Fermanagh, Parish > Derryvullan.

I think you might be confused here by the > sign that marks the path. It does not mean = (as in Placename = Drumbo, County = Fermanagh, Parish = Derryvullan). The symbol > means "greater than."  When we read the path string, each element before the symbol is larger than the element after it. As we work through the path we are drilling down to smaller and smaller elements until we arrive at the smallest element--i.e., the record we want.

Tony, we use "waypoints" in every citation to archival material. We just haven't used that term to describe them and we use standard punctuation between them. Using the simple example at EE 3.8:

John Ball to Thomas Massie, letter, 14 April 1792; Massie Papers, MSS 1M3855c; Virginia Historical Society, Richmond.

Here, we are saying that we used a letter (John Ball to Thomas Massie, 1792), which is in the Massie Papers (Manuscript MSS 1M3855c), which is at the Virginia Historical Society, which is in  Richmond, Virginia. Each item is one waypoint along the path.

In standard format for archival material, U.S. style, the path goes from small to large—rather than large to small as we would do at a website where we go from the publication (the website) down to the series, to the collection, to the file, to the document.  If we were to express the above using waypoint “punctuation,” it would look like this

John Ball to Thomas Massie, letter, 14 April 1792 < Massie Papers, MSS 1M3855c < Virginia Historical Society < Richmond, Virginia.

In this case, each waypoint in the citation would be followed by a less-than sign (rather than a greater-than sign), because each element or marker is smaller than the one that comes after it.

To use a more complicated example from 11.45—a U.S. National Archives example:

Affidavit of William J. Haralson, 15 November 1872, p. 2; Lemuel J. Standifer vs. United States, Records of the Southern ClaimsCommission, disallowed claim no. 625, Office no. 69, Report no. 3; appealed as Court of Claims no. 4789, Congressional Jurisdiction Case Records, 1884–1952; Record Group 123: Records of the U.S. Courtof Claims; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

We could punctuation this as waypointsL

Affidavit of William J. Haralson, 15 November 1872, p. 2 < Lemuel J. Standifer vs. United States < Records of the Southern Claims Commission, disallowed claim no. 625, Office no. 69, Report no. 3 < appealed as Court of Claims no. 4789 < Congressional Jurisdiction Case Records, 1884–1952 < Record Group 123: Records of the U.S. Courtof Claims < National Archives < Washington, D.C.

As you know: outside the U.S., standard citations to archival material often begin with the largest element and work down to the smallest. In this case, the waypoints would be connected with the same greater-than sign that is used for following a path at an online site where we go from the website > series >  collection > file > document.