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Copying and Publishing Public Records –
How to Cite Public Records
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Public records that are published or exhibited, or referred
to in papers or publications require accurate citations. A citation that
includes the elements and formats outlined below provides contextual
information about the records referred to, and allows them to be found by other
researchers. Records that have been cited accurately can be retrieved
quickly, saving considerable time and effort.
The information you need for a citation can be obtained from
the record and from PROV’s online catalogue. In the physical record
example below, the Item description can be found on the letter being cited, and
the rest of the elements can be found on PROV’s online catalogue.
In the digital record examples below all the information can be found on the
relevant Sub-Item and Item Details pages on PROV’s online
catalogue.
The following examples set out a full citation format, which
contains contextual information about a record, including the government agency
that created it, and a brief citation format. PROV recommends the use of
the full citation format, however, the brief citation format contains the
minimum information required to identify a record.
Physical Records
Physical records exist in various physical forms, such as a
group of folios fastened together to form a file, volumes, cards, maps,
photographs, films, or sound recordings.
Full Citation
PROV, VA 672 Premier's Office, VPRS 1163/P1 Inwards
Correspondence Files, Unit 744, 1883/291 letter re. remedy for pauperism.
Brief Citation
PROV, VPRS 1163/P1, Unit 744, 1883/291.
Digitised Copies of Physical Records
If you are citing a digitised copy of a physical record held
by PROV cite the physical record that the copy was made from, and add the fact
that is was a digitised copy, and the date it was viewed online, as shown in
this example of a brief citation:
PROV, VPRS 1163/P1, Unit 744, 1883/291 (digitised copy,
viewed online 1 August 2005)
Digital Records
Digital records, such as word processing and text files,
emails, and images, exist online.
Full Citation of an Item
PROV, VA 673 Department of Transport (known as Ministry of
Transport 1951- 1992), VPRS 6347/P4 General Correspondence Files, Annual Single
Number System, Item 2005F1, File S1 teal 744.
Brief Citation of an Item
PROV, VPRS 6347/P4, Item 2005F1, File S1 teal 744
Full Citation of a Sub-Item
PROV, VA 673 Department of Transport (known as Ministry of
Transport 1951- 1992), VPRS 6347/P4 General Correspondence Files, Annual Single
Number System, Sub-Item RecS16, PROS 99/007 RecS16.
Brief Citation of a Sub-Item
PROV, VPRS 6347/P4, Sub-Item RecS16, PROS 99/007 RecS16.
When citing a Sub-Item it is not necessary to cite Item
details as there is enough metadata associated with digital Sub-Items for them
to be uniquely identified.