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Dear Editor:
I am citing a deed image online on a state/county site. Here is an example of what I'm doing:
Massachusetts. Plymouth County. Old Colony Books. Plymouth County Registry of Deeds. Digital images. Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Plymouth County Register of Deeds Search. titleview.org/plymouthdeeds/ : 2018.
I wasn't able to find anything identical to what I am citing, so I combined the Quick Check Model on p. 494 with 10.6 Basic Formats: Image Copies Online Images of Microfilm (FamilySearch), p. 500.
I believe it's asking for the year it was created, but all I could find was the copyright year, 2018.
First (Full) Reference Note asks for Date Accessed.
And the Subsequent (Short) Note asks for Record Date.
Q: Is it alright to use the copyright year in the Source List Entry?
Debra Newton-Carter
Asheville, NC
Debra, just to clarify for
Debra, just to clarify for readers who might not be aware of this point: if we're citing an individual deed, we would be using a Reference Note format (either Full Reference or Subsequent Reference). We use the Source List format only when we're citing the record book generically.
Specifically to your question: Because your example does not take us to a specific deed or a specific record book for us to examine the record set and the presentation of it, I can't say that it would or would not be appropriate to cite the copyright year. That year, which appears at the foot of the generic page to which your URL points us, applies to the website as a whole. At some sites, individual alterations are ongoing past the copyright date that is put on the site as a whole.
Please forgive me. I should
Please forgive me. I should have stated that I don't yet have the image. I am identifying sources for further reccomendations.
That is exactly what I thought about the copyright date for the site. There are no notices of when the site was last updated, etc.
Debra Newton-Carter
Asheville, NC