Origin Info

Required

Repeatable

View MODS Documentation →

Information about the origin of the resource, including place of origin or publication, publisher/originator, and dates associated with the resource

Table of Contents

  1. Purpose
  2. Guidelines
  3. Subelements
    1. Date
    2. Place
    3. Publisher
    4. Edition
    5. Issuance
  4. Attributes
    1. Supplied
  5. See Also

Purpose

  • To allow end users to discover resources by date
  • To provide context regarding the publication and origination of the material
  • To be used by Copyright and Information Policy to make copyright determinations and to apply appropriate rights profiles in MMS

Guidelines

Subelements

Date

Required

Repeatable

The date of creation of the resource View MODS Documentation for Date created →

or

The date that the resource was published, released, or issued View MODS Documentation for Date issued →

Guidelines

  • Date is a required element
    • If no date can be found, you must estimate a date or date range (i.e. decade or century)
    • If a container or item record has a narrower date than is inherited from a higher-level collection or container, disinherit the Origin Info element and add the narrower date to a given container or item
  • Select the appropriate date Type from the dropdown
    • Use Date created for most unpublished materials
    • Use Date issued for most published materials
    • Do not use Date captured, Copyright date, or Other date
      • Dates related to ownership, copyright, gift, etc. can be expressed as free text in a Note element with the Type “date” with a prefix for context, e.g. “Gift: 1937”
  • Add the relevant date(s) encoded as a Single date or Date range
    • Select Single date if you know the point in time a resource was created or issued
      • If adding more than one Single date field, select the most relevant encoded date as Key date
    • Select Date range if the date of a resource is provided as range or you are uncertain about the point in time a resource was created or issued
      • Enter a range of dates (no matter how broad) to narrow down the date, e.g. to express that a resource was created in the 1920s, select Date range, enter a Start date of 1920 and an End date of 1929 and select approximate for the Qualifier of both fields
      • Indicate the Start date of the range as the Key date
    • Enter the most specific date known in the Year, Month, and Day fields
      • Year is required, while Month and Day are optional
      • By default all date(s) are set to CE to indicate the date is common era
      • If a date is before the common era (BCE), toggle the radio button to BCE
    • Select a Qualifier if appropriate for any dates to indicate that they are approximate, inferred, or questionable
      • Select approximate for uncertain date ranges and for “circa” dates that are not guaranteed to be exact
      • Select inferred for known dates not transcribed directly from a resource
      • Select questionable for questionable dates
  • Generally, dates should not be recorded free text using the Text (for non-Gregorian calendar dates) option
    • Non-Gregorian dates, decades, and seasons should be converted to their corresponding Gregorian date/range
      • Add a Note element with the Type “date” with a prefix for context that specifies the original calendar type, date, and date type, e.g. “Date issued: 1003 (Islamic calendar)” or “Date created: 1743 (Julian calendar)”
    • “Circa” or “approximate” dates can be recorded as an encoded date/range with the use of the relevant Qualifier
    • Dates provides as seasons, can be recorded using Date range to record the range of months that correspond to that season
      • Seasons in the Northern Hemisphere:
        • Winter: record month range 01–03
        • Spring: record month range 04–06
        • Summer: record month range 07–09
        • Fall: record month range 10–12
      • Seasons in the Southern Hemisphere:
        • Winter: record month range 07–09
        • Spring: record month range 10–12
        • Summer: record month range 01–03
        • Fall: record month range 04–06
      • Add a Note element with the Type “date” with a prefix for context that specifies the original calendar type, date, and date type, e.g. “Date issued: Summer 1968”
    • If you believe there to be a reason to record a date as Text (for non-Gregorian calendar dates), discuss with the Manager, Metadata Services, before proceeding further
  • For reprints, add the date of the reprint in the Date issued field, not the date of the original item’s creation or issuance
    • You may put the original print date in a Note element with the Type “date” with a prefix for context, e.g. “Original: 1920”

Place

Repeatable

View MODS Documentation →

A place associated with the event

Guidelines

  • Provide a free text description of the place the resource was created or issued
  • Remove brackets enclosing the entirety of the Place subelement
    • If brackets indicated the Place was devised and not transcribed from the resource, check the Supplied box
  • Leave the Value type dropdown as text
  • For places depicted in the content of the resource, use Geographic Subject

Publisher

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The name of the entity that published, printed, distributed, released, issued, or produced the resource

Guidelines

  • Provide a free text description of who published the resource
    • Choice and format of the Publisher subelement should be governed by the relevant content standard
  • Do not include brackets in the Publisher subelement
    • Check the Supplied box if the Publisher was not directly transcribed from the resource but instead provided by the person creating the description
  • Do not add the name of the institution responsible for digitizing and delivering online a previously published resource
    • If necessary to add, this information can be input in a Note element

Edition

View MODS Documentation →

Information identifying the version of the resource

Guidelines

  • Transcribe any available edition information using the relevant content standard
  • Do not include brackets in the Edition subelement
  • Check the Supplied box if the Edition was not directly transcribed from the resource but instead provided by the person creating the description

Issuance

View MODS Documentation →

A term that designates how the resource is issued

Guidelines

  • This subelement is not widely used at the present time, but you can select serial if appropriate

Attributes

Supplied

View MODS Documentation →

Indicates whether the content of the element has been supplied from external sources, or from a source other than the ones prescribed by the content standard used

Guidelines

  • Refer to Place, Publisher, and Edition for guidelines on when to check the Supplied box in those respective subelements

See Also