Searching for the Date to cite

[Carl Heine]

I recently got an email from a librarian in Illinois asking about ways to use Google to identify the date of an article. She wondered if there was a command in Google that would provide update information.

I responded by saying that I don't think Google itself has a tool for sorting records by cache date, but if any page is cached, students can click that link and find the date it was updated or added to Google's index. Look for the term Cache at the end of the snippet. This isn't the same as "last updated" or copyright, but it's better than nothing.

Personally, I wouldn't use it for a date in a citation, but as a guide for freshness if the date of the information was critical (usually for very current events). Back to this point in a moment.

I did a quick search using keywords GOOGLE CACHE DATE and found that third parties create tools that come close to what she may be looking for. For example: http://www.webuildpages.com/tools/ advertises a Cache Tool: "Enter in a URL and this tool will check that page, and all links off of that page to see when each page was last cached. Will also show if any pages aren't getting cached. Improved and updated." The tool is no longer free and may be purchased. I think I'll pass, but in case anyone owns this, I'd like to know how you use it.

The important issue here is what date to cite: copyright, last updated or cached. I'd like to hear from practitioners what they advise. What if copyright isn't available? If you should assume copyright on all Web content, is "last updated" the most accurate?