![]() There are also many online resources including demos and an “official” blog linked to the website from the developers. Largely because of its streamlined nature, Zotero is very intuitive to learn. Zotero can also handle a couple of other commonly used formats such as Google Docs and web pages, and extract metadata for citations and the whole of the digital library the researcher assembles. Though Zotero has somewhat limited features, it is possible to take notes as add-ons to PDF’s, which are automatically saved in a separate file and searchable along with citations. This means that rather than being particularly good for one discipline, Zotero is particularly good for experienced researchers as a demographic. This observation can be extended to include researchers with an established system for research and simply need to economize their citation efforts. As Necka points out, it is a streamlined software that caters to researchers who don’t need to make extended notes as they work and simply need a way to organize and search their sources (2013). Zotero itself runs primarily as an add-on through the Firefox browser (its original iteration) and can also be downloaded as a desktop application on any operating system including Windows, OSX, and Linux and used on mobile devices. This customization comes in extremely handy for other users within the same field as any researcher who has created an add-on, as they often create tools specific to their discipline. Because of Zotero’s open source nature, users are constantly developing add-ons to the software, which are tailored specifically to their research uses. Sloan Foundation, Zotero was created at George Mason University in 2006. Developed as an open source tool with funding from individual donations and charitable organizations like the United States Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Andrew W. Zotero is one of the most popular and user-tested free citation managers, and has a well-established presence in most academic disciplines. Please note that these comparisons come from personal exploration of each citation manager unless indicated otherwise. Each citation manager will be discussed in turn, and further resources for choosing citation managers and continued tech support will be included in the conclusion. Since citation managers are designed to increase the efficiency of research, it is important to critically evaluate them for how much time the researcher can save by using them and whether each citation manager supports research as a collaborative and conversational process.ĭue to the sheer number of free citation managers on offer to researchers, I have selected Zotero, Mendeley, Docear, and ReadCube to compare in terms of general usability/share-ability, reliance on the PDF format, the ability to interface with other citation managers, suitability for certain disciplines, multilingual functions (if applicable), bibliographic generation, and any proprietary limitations as mentioned above. Similarly to the manner in which they help users discover a variety of information and research strategies, librarians are often called upon to know which citation manager best suits the researcher (Hensley, 2011).Īs Necka points out in Selecting a reference manager, many of the choices involved in choosing a citation manager come down to the researcher’s pre-existing workflow, and how much they need to interact with the information they compile (Necka, 2013). Because of this interdependent relationship between technology and research, reference librarians often act as mediators between the researcher and the way the information is organized and credited due to their broad perspective on both information and research. Technology is constantly evolving and proliferating to the extent that it significantly influences the research strategies of most undergraduate and graduate library users (Hensley, 2011). Thus, this guide is a quick reference to free citation managers (Zotero, Mendeley, Docear, and ReadCube) for instruction librarians as well as a tool to help them guide students towards a citation manager that best suits them. ![]() The issue is further complicated by several factors that contribute to a student’s choice in citation manager: general usability/share-ability (including reliance on the PDF format and the ability to interface with other citation managers), suitability for certain disciplines, multilingual functions, bibliographic generation, and any proprietary limitations. ![]() While many university libraries host comparison charts for citation managers on their websites, it is often difficult to direct students towards a single platform with which to organize sources, let alone furnish long-term support for the growing number of citation tools offered. ![]()
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