---
type: Changelog Entry
title: Record approximate and uncertain publication dates, decades and ranges
resource: https://www.librario.de/en/changelog/2026-10-ungefaehre-erscheinungsdaten
language: en
revision: 5a67eec2c66de2e4c35b7739361d6053b37a4c18
tags:
- changelog
---

# Record approximate and uncertain publication dates, decades and ranges

“circa 1970” for a book from a bequest with no imprint, “1970s” for a pamphlet you can only place roughly, “1985–1992” for a multi-volume work: you can now enter such publication dates as you know them, instead of inventing an exact year or leaving the field empty.

Below the **Publication date** field, **Date helper…** opens a dialog where you put together an approximate or uncertain date, a decade or a range. Librario then spells out the value in words, such as “circa 1970”.

![The Enter publication date dialog with the tabs Publication date, Date range and Decade or century. Publication date is selected with the year 1975 and Approximate (circa); the preview, in German, reads ca. 1975, and the field will show 1975~.](/de/docs/grundlagen/veroeffentlichungsdaten/datumshilfe-formular.webp)
_With the year 1975 and Approximate selected, the preview reads “ca. 1975”.
Screenshot of the German interface._


If you know the notation, you can still type it straight into the field. It follows EDTF, an open standard from the Library of Congress.

[Documentation: notations for publication dates](/en/docs/grundlagen/veroeffentlichungsdaten#schreibweisen)