Forums
My dilemma is how to cite an online death certificate from FamilySearch, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9Y4-J9CR-P.
EE4, pg 450/451, Section 11.39, State Level Certificates, Online Images, template 5 complex website, looks like correct.
Then considering Emphasis on Record or Database; section 3.16 indicates that Emphasis on Record is typically used when we have only a few documents from an online database. Emphasis on Database, section 3.16 indicates it is typically used when we have many documents from a single database.
Currently I have on 1 DC but may have more in my database requiring a citation but not approaching many.
The option language on page 121 for Template 5 for Layer 1 states to use template for it’s kind of record (Template 12 pg 131 for DC). Layers 2 & 3 use template 5 to ID the website.
In this case I am also using the DC to support the Birth Date.
Here is my interpretation:
Kentucky Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificate of Death no. 5068 (1945), Christian County, Earl Carmack, died 4 March 1945, providing birth date of 24 March 1900; "Kentucky, Deaths, 1911–1967," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9Y4-J9CR-P : accessed 24 March 2026), image 1585 of 3523; citing Image Group Number 004179798, Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort.
I wasn’t sure how to include the image number and just included it before Layer 3. Am I close?
Hello, Dale. Yes, the…
Hello, Dale.
Yes, the image number is in the right layer. An image number in a database is the equivalent of a page number in a book. It goes after the parentheses in which we place the publication data.
However, there’s another element here that complicates the issue: that Image Group Number.
If the IGN is positioned in Layer 3 (the "citing ...." layer in which we say that the website provider says it found these records at thus-and-such), then we are saying that the Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives has an "Image Group Number ...." But, of course, it doesn't.
The Image Group Number is a construct of FamilySearch’s system. Therefore, that number goes in the layer in which we are citing FamilySearch.
Again, let's liken this Family Search citation to a book. Because we’re citing a database as well as a website, it's akin to a book with chapters by different authors. Therefore, the basic pattern is this:
[Chapter AUTHOR, not needed], "Chapter or Database Title," Book or Website Title (Publication place : date), page/image number.
Sometimes, however, a “book” has multiple volumes or parts, with each volume or part numbered individually. In those cases we need to identify the volume as well as the page, say: Volume 1, page 123.
The IGN is the website’s equivalent of the volume number. So, we expand the basic pattern to place that in the same position where we would place the volume number in a book citation:
[Chapter author, not needed], "Chapter or Database Title," Book or Website Title (Publication place : date), IGN/vol. no. > page/image number.