ID-100104309

Okay, genealogy friends, I need some advice on how best to cite a digital image of a newspaper article obtained through a library-access-only database, such as ProQuest or NewsBank.  By this, I mean you either have to go to the library and use their computers (or network) to access the information, or if available, you can do it from home with your library card.  I also mean that these are databases that are not available to the general public in other ways (in other words, I cannot purchase a subscription to the database as an individual consumer like I can with say, Ancestry).

The biggest issue is citing the “where accessed” portion of the recommended citation.  On page 809 of Evidence Explained (Mills, 2007), the recommendation for a citation for a digital image of a newspaper obtained online is:

[author], “[article title],” [newspaper title], [issue date], p. [page number], col. [column number]; digital images, [website title] ([website URL] : accessed [date]), [collection title].

Therefore, a citation for a digital newspaper article obtained via GenealogyBank would look like this:

“Miss Marjorie Brunner,” Rockford Register-Republic, 30 June 1938, p. 4, col. 7; digital images, GenealogyBank (http://genealogybank.com : accessed 22 November 2011), Historical Newspapers.

Simple enough.  But what about the library-access-only databases?  What do you put in for the website title and website URL?  Here’s an example of how I’ve addressed it for years:

“Death in Fall From Trolley Held Accident,” Chicago Tribune, 20 March 1946, p. 19; digital images, ProQuest (library subscription : accessed August 21, 2010), Historical Chicago Tribune.

I enter ProQuest to identify the entity servicing the database I used, which seems fair.  Since there really is no website URL, I use the phrase “library subscription” instead and still include an access date.  And I do include the collection title.  I feel that anyone not familiar with ProQuest (or NewsBank, or others) can do a quick Google search, visit the company’s website and learn that the company offers various databases to libraries, not individuals.  Just like any other source, it would be up the the person to figure out where they might go to find said database.

To me, this seems sufficient, but is this the appropriate way to handle this particular situation?  I’d really like others to chime in on how they handle this type of citation.  Please leave a comment here on the blog (not on Facebook, G+, or Twitter) so others can benefit from the dialog associated with this post.

Image courtesy of Master isolated images at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.