diff --git a/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/visualization/constants/VOConstants.java b/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/visualization/constants/VOConstants.java
index 95fffb68..2b32ea5d 100644
--- a/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/visualization/constants/VOConstants.java
+++ b/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/visualization/constants/VOConstants.java
@@ -2,7 +2,12 @@
 
 package edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.visualization.constants;
 
+import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Calendar;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import org.joda.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
+import org.joda.time.format.ISODateTimeFormat;
 
 /**
  * This contains the constants related to all the value objects.
@@ -23,6 +28,16 @@ public class VOConstants {
 	public static final int NUM_CHARS_IN_YEAR_FORMAT = 4;
 	public static final int MINIMUM_PUBLICATION_YEAR = 1800;
 	public static final int CURRENT_YEAR = Calendar.getInstance().get(Calendar.YEAR);
+	
+	@SuppressWarnings("serial")
+	public static final List<DateTimeFormatter> POSSIBLE_DATE_TIME_FORMATTERS = new ArrayList<DateTimeFormatter>() {{
+		
+		add(ISODateTimeFormat.dateTimeNoMillis());
+		add(ISODateTimeFormat.dateHourMinuteSecond());
+		add(ISODateTimeFormat.dateTimeParser());
+		
+	}};
+	
 
 	
 }
diff --git a/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/visualization/freemarker/valueobjects/BiboDocument.java b/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/visualization/freemarker/valueobjects/BiboDocument.java
index 48450856..c6726439 100644
--- a/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/visualization/freemarker/valueobjects/BiboDocument.java
+++ b/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/visualization/freemarker/valueobjects/BiboDocument.java
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import org.joda.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
 import org.joda.time.format.ISODateTimeFormat;
 
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.visualization.constants.VOConstants;
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.visualization.freemarker.visutils.UtilityFunctions;
 
 /**
  * @author cdtank
@@ -112,12 +113,11 @@ public class BiboDocument extends Individual {
 		
 		if (publicationDate != null) { 
 			
-			DateTimeFormatter dateTimeFormat = ISODateTimeFormat.dateHourMinuteSecond();
+			DateTime validParsedDateTimeObject = UtilityFunctions.getValidParsedDateTimeObject(publicationDate);
 			
-			try {
-				DateTime dateTime = dateTimeFormat.parseDateTime(publicationDate);
-				return String.valueOf(dateTime.getYear());
-			} catch (Exception e) {
+			if (validParsedDateTimeObject != null) {
+				return String.valueOf(validParsedDateTimeObject.getYear());
+			} else {
 				return publicationYear != null ? publicationYear : VOConstants.DEFAULT_PUBLICATION_YEAR;
 			}
 			
diff --git a/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/visualization/freemarker/visutils/UtilityFunctions.java b/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/visualization/freemarker/visutils/UtilityFunctions.java
index aa08d94b..4c9ece4a 100644
--- a/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/visualization/freemarker/visutils/UtilityFunctions.java
+++ b/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/visualization/freemarker/visutils/UtilityFunctions.java
@@ -3,8 +3,10 @@
 package edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.visualization.freemarker.visutils;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.HashSet;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.TreeMap;
@@ -16,6 +18,9 @@ import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
 
 import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.joda.time.DateTime;
+import org.joda.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
+import org.joda.time.format.ISODateTimeFormat;
 
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.beans.Portal;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.controller.Controllers;
@@ -23,6 +28,7 @@ import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.controller.VitroRequest;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.controller.freemarker.responsevalues.ResponseValues;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.controller.freemarker.responsevalues.TemplateResponseValues;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.controller.visualization.freemarker.VisualizationFrameworkConstants;
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.visualization.constants.VOConstants;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.visualization.constants.VisConstants;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.visualization.freemarker.valueobjects.BiboDocument;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.visualization.freemarker.valueobjects.CoAuthorshipData;
@@ -253,5 +259,27 @@ public class UtilityFunctions {
 		return yearToGrantCount;
 		
 	}
+	
+	public static DateTime getValidParsedDateTimeObject(String unparsedDateTime) {
+		
+		for (DateTimeFormatter currentFormatter : VOConstants.POSSIBLE_DATE_TIME_FORMATTERS) {
+			
+			try {
+				
+				DateTime dateTime = currentFormatter.parseDateTime(unparsedDateTime);
+				return dateTime;
+				
+			} catch (Exception e2) {
+				/*
+				 * The current date-time formatter did not pass the muster. 
+				 * */
+			}
+		}
+		
+		/*
+		 * This means that none of the date time formatters worked. 
+		 * */
+		return null;
+	}
 
 }