nondate

Nondate is a term used in information management to indicate that a date is not provided or not applicable for a particular record. It serves to distinguish a missing or inapplicable date from actual dates or from dates that are uncertain or approximate. The label is most often encountered in metadata schemas, cataloging practices, and data-entry workflows.

In bibliographic and archival contexts, nondate can appear when documenting works, events, or materials that lack a known publication year, creation date, or event date. In practice, librarians and archivists frequently use undated or no date as more natural descriptors, while nondate may be used in machine-readable exports or in specialized metadata fields that explicitly signal an absence of date information.

In data modeling and software, nondate can be represented in various ways depending on the system. It may be stored as a null value, an empty string, a sentinel date such as 0000-00-00, or as a separate flag indicating that the date exists. Some schemas provide a dedicated boolean or status field to indicate the presence or absence of a date, enabling correct handling in searches, sorting, and display.

Usage considerations include how nondate affects data quality, user interfaces, and queries. Records with nondate may require special handling in sorting (often placed at the end or begin), in filtering, and in citation generation. Although not a common standalone term in everyday use, nondate appears in technical documentation and data schemas as a precise way to mark missing date information.

See also: undated, no date, n.d., MARC, Dublin Core.