I'd like to echo Peter Graham's comments -- copyright (or legal deposit)
date in the context of the Dublin Core date element is effectively
descriptive information.
To amplify: The DC date element is intended to record dates in the lifecycle
of the resource. DC dates will most likely have value primarily for
identification, for indexing, and at-arm's-length evaluation by the user
(e.g., date.submitted will often provide a reliable clue as to the currency
of the content of the resource).
A copyright date in the context of dc.date.copyright *records* the date of
copyright. The date will likely be drawn from statement on the resource
itself, though it might be drawn from other sources such as a copyright
registration form. Since it is possible for a resource to be copyrighted
but all reuse restrictions to be waived, partially waived, or retained in
full, the dc.date.copyright value provides no real rights management value
beyond 1. indicating the resource is copyrighted and 2. suggesting the
probable end-date of legal copyright and the availability of the resource as
public domain.
Reuse privileges should be detailed (or referenced if the privileges are
recorded in a separate document) explicitedly in the dc.rights element
and/or should be available as part of -- or in conjunction with -- the
resource. Recording year spans for the purposes of determining when a
resource will become public domain strikes me as something that belongs in
dc.rights rather than dc.date since the information is effectively a
statement about the temporal facet of rights.
So...the same copyright date might appear usefully in both dc.date and
dc.rights.
For example:
dc.title "Foo Corporation Company History"
dc.date.copyright "2002"
dc.rights "c2002 Foo Corporation. All rights reserved."
The example repeats the notion of "2002" as a copyright date, but the
purpose of each context is complementary:
-in dc.date.copyright, the value helps to distinguish the resource from
others that might bear the same title, and,
-in dc.rights, an expression of copyright ownership and reuse privileges is
asserted in a formal statement that by custom includes the copyright year.
Eric Childress
Consulting Product Manager
OCLC Metadata Services Division
OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.
6565 Frantz Rd., Dublin, OH 43017 USA
US: (800) 848-5878 or (614) 764-6000
Fax: (614) 718-7361 email: [log in to unmask]
|