This form is long with a lot of explanations. Please bear with us, as making sure that the information is accurate and consistent is important.
We start by asking for your email address. We will not give this information out, but we need it in case we need to contact you with questions about your entry. Your email address:
The first author is the person who is listed first in a list of authors etc. Any additional authors or people associated with the work are listed in the Other People field. Titles such as PhD, Dr. etc are omitted. If the first author is not really an author but an editor, enter them as below, but add (ed) after their name. In the case of multiple initials, place a space betwen the period after the first and the second initial. A birth and/or death year may also be listed following the name (with a comma separator); if both are present, two dashes separate them. The author's name should be entered as the examples below show: Doe, John Doe, John Q. Doe, John Q. (ed) Doe, John Q. (ed, photo) Doe, J. Q. Doe, John, 1932--1933 Any punctuation other than the . after an initial get removed.
For what a person did if they are not an author, use the following abbreviations:
National Speleological Society convention guidebooks have the author: National Speleological Society. Annual Convention. Guidebook (year: City where held, 2 letter postal code for state)
First author:
Other people are coauthors, illustrators, translators, co-editors etc. Use the same list of abbreviations for their purpose as above in author. The format of the name is the same as for authors. They are listed with their relationship to the first author in parenthesis. Entries in the list of other people are separated by a semicolon (;). Coauthors do not have anything in parens after their name. Others have their relationship listed. Birth and death years optionally follow the name, as it does for the author. Examples: Doe, John Doe, John (ed) Doe, John (ed); Smith, Jane F. (ed) Doe, John, 1932--1933 (illus); Smith, Jane F. (trans) Doe, John; Smith, Jane F. (trans)
Other people:
The title is the title from the title page. The cover title may be different. If so, note the cover title in the Notes field with the initial phrase "Cover title:". You are not allowed to change the punctuation except to add a " : " between parts of the title that need an obvious break. The first word of the title begins with an uppercase letter and all other words except proper nouns are all lowercase. Do not move a leading "The", "A", "An", etc to the end of the title. No punctuation should end the title unless it is part of the title. Examples are: The caves of Monroe County My explorations of Bone Cave Caves of the northwest United States If the cover title is different than the title page, put the following in the notes field: Cover title: Silently in the night.
Title:
The publisher is the company, organization or person responsible for the work being produced. No punctuation should end this entry. Capitalization is normally first letter of each word except for little words such as "the", "a", "an", etc. Examples are: John Wiley and Sons The National Speleological Society John Doe Carlsbad Caverns Natural History Association If the publisher is unknown, enter np.
Publisher:
Place of publication: this should be city, state, country. For country, use the ISO two-letter country codes. For US states, use the two-letter postal abbreviation. For Australian states use: ACT, VIC, SA, NT, NSW, WA, QLD, TAS. For states in other countries, spell them out for now. If we get an official abbreviation list, we will change then. No punctuation should end the entry. If part is missing, use what is available (e.g. if no city is supplied, just put in state and country). Do not include finer detail than city (i.e. no street addresses). Examples are: Washington, DC, US Albuquerque, NM, US Calgary, Alberta, CA If the place of publication is unknown, enter npop. If the place of publication is not explicity stated, but can be deduced, enter the entire place of publication in [ ].
City: State: Country:
The publication date is the month (First three letters and with an initial uppercase letter) and year of publication. If the month is uknown, then it is just the year (do not click on the month field if it is unknown or you cannot get it back to a blank in some browsers). If the year is unknown, then enter nd. Examples: Jun 1994 1937 nd If the date of publication is not explicity stated, but can be deduced, enter the entire place of publication in [ ]. Sometimes it is more appropriate to use circa date (e.g. c1995) when the certainty of the date is less.
Month: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Year:
Format information. Partly colored means something with five colors or less, not counting white and black.
Look through the publication and check off any of the following which it contains:
Black and White Partly Colored Color
Folded stuff is maps, etc which are folded and loose, in the text, or in a pocket at the front or back. Note where the material is folded along with how many and what. Do not put any punctuation at the end, and use lower case throughout except for proper nouns. Examples: 1 map folded in rear pocket 1 map folded, loose in text 1 chart folded in text
Folded stuff:
Lining pages are the pages directly inside the front and back cover (i.e. the same piece of paper as a cover in a softbound book). Sometimes they have pictures or other material on them. Note what is on the lining pages. Do not put any punctuation at the end, and use lower case throughout except for proper nouns. Use the words front and rear to differentiate the two when different things are on them.
Lining pages:
A frontispiece is an illustration that appears preceding and usually facing the title page. Record what it is. Use the word front. Examples: b&w front front: b&w drawing
Frontispiece:
Check off all of the end matter that the book has (note somtimes the end matter isn't at the end of the book!).
Addendum Appendix Bibliography Erratum Glossary Index Note
Look at how the book is paginated. If it is not numbered sequentially (except for prefatory material), check the Various pagination box.
Various pagination
Look at the beginning of the publication and note the highest roman numeral prefatory page (if it has any pages with roman numerals).
Numbered prefatory pages:
If the prefatory pages are not numbered, count them.
Un-numbered prefatory pages:
Look at the end of the publication and note the page number.
Numbered main body pages:
If the main body pages are not numbered, count them or try to estimate accurately. If you estimate, place the value in [ ].
Un-numbered main body pages:
Sometimes, the pages are numbered, but the plates (special pages with illustrations on them, usually higher-quality paper than the main body) are not. If this is the case, enter the number of pages which are not numbered.
Un-numbered plates:
The size in centimeters. Enter numbers only in this field, using decimals not fractions. Examples: 20 x 19.5 28 Size: x cm.
Notes: anything else which is notable about the book goes in this field. Punctuation and capitalization of the first word of a sentence are used in this field. Don't put . after abbreviations such as figs, col, pls, etc.
If the piece has no illus enter the phrase: No illus. in the notes field. If the piece is an audiovisual, enter the format information (removing the . from the abbreviations) in the notes field.
Notes:
The series title for items that are one of a series. Examples: Dark Pathways Series book 4 The Somerset Folk Series no. 26 Hammond Earth Science Transparency Series 8562 Empire State Historical Publications Series 41
Capitalize the words in the name of the series; do not capitalize number, no, volume, vol, book, etc.; keep punctuation to a absolute minimum.
Series:
For works where the subsequent editions have not changed author or title from the first edition. Each edition of a book gets a new record. However, in the records other than the first, all information which is the same between editions (except first author and title) should be omitted. The edition field contains other notes about the edition, such as the edition number and other useful bits of information such as ``revised''. If you enter a date in the edition field, remove the date of the year field. If you are entering a publication which is not in the database, please provide full information on the edition(s) you have.
Edition:
Index terms are assigned to represent the category or categories that describe this publication. Multiple entries are separated by commas. A complete list of all index terms is here . The first letter of each word is capitalized. Examples: Surveying Cave Diving, Surveying Index terms: