Thanks to Dr. Cranky for sharing the information about Zotero, the "next generation research tool". In case you missed the info, shared in a comment on Velma's recent post about EndNote, Zotero is an online/offline reference tool that combines elements of EndNote, word processing programs, web searches, etc. I just installed it and watched the online tour and demo. I have to say that, if it lives up to its description, Zotero might just be the greatest thing since...well, you know...
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Zotero!
Thanks to Dr. Cranky for sharing the information about Zotero, the "next generation research tool". In case you missed the info, shared in a comment on Velma's recent post about EndNote, Zotero is an online/offline reference tool that combines elements of EndNote, word processing programs, web searches, etc. I just installed it and watched the online tour and demo. I have to say that, if it lives up to its description, Zotero might just be the greatest thing since...well, you know...
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I think I'm in love...
Seriously. They've got some kinks to work out, but this is truly awesome and FREE. I can't get over it.
Best feature so far: I did a search in proquest, and it will save the entire page as individual references in your database. I was clicking on each one at first, but you can opt to only save certain references. Very cool.
I have to say--I never liked EndNote very much, and now I'm glad not to have any buyer's remorse about purchasing it.
After playing around with Zotero for a while (which, by the way, I can now confidently declare IS the next best thing since sliced bread), I have a few tips:
1. To import your existing EndNote library into Zotero, select the "RefMan (RIS)" output style before you export. This will save your EndNote library as a .txt file, which can then be easily imported into Zotero. I was able to do this with no problems, even though my EndNote library was on a PC and Zotero is installed on our new Mac. (Plus, this saved me from having to purchase EndNote for Mac -- yay!!)
2. I find that Zotero seems to have the most success importing items from JSTOR. Here's how it works: when you do a web search via Informaworld, Google Scholar, JSTOR, or any other electronic database and click on the link to an article, Zotero recognizes this and places an icon in your browser window. Clicking that icon will automatically save the reference information for that article as a new item in your library. Pretty nifty. The best part, though, is that if the full text PDF file is available, Zotero also saves a copy of that file in your library, too! You know all those miscellaneous PDFs you have floating around your hard drive? Now you can store them in one place, "attached" to the corresponding citation entry in your Zotero library. Anyway, I had varying levels of success in the transfer of bibliographic information into my library from the various website (e.g., some type-os, formatting quirks, etc.), but this seemed to happen least often when downloading articles from JSTOR. So, this would be the first place I would look for articles if I were looking to build my Zotero library.
3. One of the coolest features, IMO, is that the Zotero interface resembles that of your iTunes library. Thus, you have a master library with all of your citations, and then you can create "collections" (like playlists) to which you can add specific citations. And, just like in iTunes, citations can occupy multiple collections at the same time, and deleting one from a collection does not remove it from your master library. So, I've created collections for each manuscript that I'm working on currently, as well as some by topic (e.g., feminist pathways, IPV, etc.).
Thanks again to Dr. Cranky for the heads-up. Those of you who detest EndNote are going to lurve Zotero!!
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