Graduate Student Use and Non-use of Reference and PDF Management Software: An Exploratory Study

Graduate students at the University of Manitoba were surveyed to find out if they used reference management software (RMS), features used, challenges and barriers to using RMS. Interest in different types of PDF management features and training options were also investigated. Both users and non-users of reference management software were invited to participate. Non-users managed their citations and references with a variety of other tools. The principal reasons for non-use were that students were not aware of options that were available, and the amount of time needed to learn the program. RMS users also mentioned the steep learning curve, problems with extracting metadata from PDFs, technical issues, and problems with inaccurate citation styles. Most of the students saved PDF documents to their computer. Students were most interested in full-text searching of PDFs, automatic renaming of PDFs, and automatically extracting citation metadata from a PDF. PDF annotation and reading tools were also of some interest. Mobile features were of the least interest. There were no statistically significant differences in the interest of PDF management features between the user and non-user groups but there were statistically significant differences in the interest of some of the training options between the groups.     

Bibliographic Management Software: A Focus Group Study of the Preferences and Practices of Undergraduate Students

With the growing population of undergraduate students on our campus and an increased focus on their success, librarians at a large midwestern university were interested in the citation management styles of this university cohort. Our university library spends considerable resources each year to maintain and promote access to the robust bibliographic management tool RefWorks. A team of librarians wondered whether RefWorks might be used by undergraduate students with the same perceived enthusiasm that we have sensed in graduate students and faculty. More generally, we explored how undergraduate students were managing their citations, if and what kinds of tools they were using to ease the process of creating bibliographies, and their general workflow in incorporating citations into their academic work.     

Comparison of Select Reference Management Tools

Bibliographic management tools have been widely used by researchers to store, organize, and manage their references for research papers, theses, dissertations, journal articles, and other publications. There are a number of reference management tools available. In order for users to decide which tool is best for their needs, it is important to know each tool's strengths and weaknesses. This article compares four reference management tools, one of which is licensed by University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey libraries and the other three are open source and freely available. They were chosen based on their functionality, ease of use, availability to library users, and popularity. These four tools are EndNote/EndNote Web, Zotero, Connotea, and Mendeley Desktop/Mendeley Web. Each tool is analyzed in terms of the following features: accessing, collecting, organizing, collaborating, and citing/formatting. A comparison table is included to summarize the key features of these tools.     

Comparison of the Accuracy of Bibliographical References Generated for Medical Citation Styles by EndNote,Mendeley, RefWorks and Zotero

Bibliographical references to online and printed articles, books, contributions to edited books and web resources generated by EndNote, Mendeley, RefWorks and Zotero were compared with manually written references according to the citation instructions in 15 biomedical journals and the NLM citation style. The fewest mistakes were detected in references generated by Zotero for 11 journals and the NLM style, while the second fewest number of mistakes was found in Mendeley. The largest number of mistakes for 9 journals was found in references generated by EndNote and in the other 4 journals the largest number of mistakes was detected in RefWorks references. With regard to the individual types of resources, the lowest number of mistakes was shown by Zotero, while RefWorks had the greatest number of mistakes. All programs had problems especially with generating the URL and the date of access in the reference to online documents. It was also found that several mistakes were caused by technical limitations of the reference managers, while other mistakes originated due to incorrect setting of the citation styles. A comparison showed that Zotero and Mendeley are the most suitable managers.     

EndNote and Reference Manager Citation formats compared to "instructions to authors" in top medical journals

The study compared citation format in EndNote version 7 and Reference Manager version 11 with the citation format for references found in the instructions to authors from the most significant medical literature. The resulting information should be very useful to those who depend on citation management software to format and organize their references for publication in medicine, and librarians and others who teach the use of citation management software.     

From Core Competencies to Desired Traits

Abstract

Reference librarianship in academic libraries has entered into a new century, and the profession will need competent reference managers more than ever. Gone are the days when a reference librarian was promoted to head the reference department based on an interest in supervising others, longevity and experience. The number of applicants in search pools for head of reference positions continues to decline. As the demand for electronic products and other venues of convenience for information delivery continues to increase, the nature of reference practice will change to meet the needs of the user. Unless one prepares for it, that change will be involuntary. This paper examines some of the qualifications, or desired traits, librarians should have who are interested in head of reference positions.     

Reference for the Remote User Through Embedded Librarianship

Embedded librarians serve an important role in assisting remote users. Despite the varying degrees of embeddedness, all maintain the goal of ensuring the same high-quality reference and instruction services that users have come to expect from the traditional library setting. Embedded librarians select and use technology that most effectively meets the needs of this unique user group. This technology can include the library Web site, course management systems, research guides, lecture and screen capture software, remote reference (including telephone, chat, and email), web conferencing, online survey tools, citation management, and social media.     

国外科学数据引用研究进展

从引用意识、引用对象以及长期保存3个方面总结目前数据引用所面临的关键问题。从数据引用规范的发展、文献管理软件的调研、数据引用利益相关者的责任与义务3个方面概括目前国外数据引用的研究进展,发现数据引用规范格式不兼容,文献管理软件缺乏对数据引用的支持,并且数据引用利益相关者责任与义务不明确。最后,针对关键问题提出对策建议以及今后研究的方向。     

参考文献引用分类标注与科技期刊和论文的评价

为了规范参考文献的引用,减小引文问题对科技期刊和论文评价所造成的影响,使得以引文为基础的各种分析方法在科技期刊和论文的评价中更加合理、更加科学,提出了参考文献引用分类标注的概念.依据被引文献对论文作用的不同和引用意义的差别,将论文所引用参考文献分为正相关性引用类、负相关性引用类和平行相关性引用类,建议在论文写作中标注出分类的标志,编辑和审稿人在编审时可据此核实参考文献引用的正确性.在论文评价时分类进行检索统计,有利于进一步规范引文分析的各项指标,变笼统的引文分析为细化的据类分析评价,使引文分析评价体系更加科学、更加可靠.     

The Perceptions of People of Color in Academic Libraries Concerning the Relationship Between Retention and Advancement as Middle Managers

ABSTRACT

A diverse workforce is important to librarianship. As a result, the recruitment of librarians of color has remained a priority; additionally, ensuring that those individuals are retained and advancing is of equal importance because it speaks to the profession's ability to maintain a diverse workforce. This article explores the interrelationship between retention and advancement for academic librarians of color working as middle managers. Through the use of narrative inquiry, the author found that several commonalities emerged among participants: the prevalence of internal promotions, lack of interest in senior leadership, and participation in library leadership institutes. The findings indicate that retention and advancement are two separate and distinct issues for librarians of color working as middle managers, with retention less of a concern. The findings also suggest that the relationship between the middle manager and his or her supervisor is critical to interest in advancement.     

Not All Library Analytics are Created Equal: LibAnswers to the Rescue!

The reasons for implementing and the advantages of switching to the Reference Analytics system, a part of the Springshare LibAnswers platform, for collecting reference statistics at a three-campus university library are described. The benefits of using this web-based product are highlighted based on the comparison with the previously used analytical tools and the annual statistical data. Transitioning to Reference Analytics allowed librarians to take advantage of such features, as seamless access to reference transactions, easy customization, cross-tabulation, and data visualization, proving beneficial for overall library reference services.     

Capturing Citation Activity in Three Health Sciences Departments: A Comparison Study of Scopus and Web of Science

Scopus and Web of Science are the two major citation databases that collect and disseminate bibliometric statistics about research articles, journals, institutions, and individual authors. Liaison librarians are now regularly called upon to utilize these databases to assist faculty in finding citation activity on their published works for tenure and promotion, grant applications, and more. But questions about the accuracy, scope, and coverage of these tools deserve closer scrutiny. Discrepancies in citation capture led to a systematic study on how Scopus and Web of Science compared in a real-life situation encountered by liaisons: comparing three different disciplines at a medical school and nursing program. How many articles would each database retrieve for each faculty member using the author-searching tools provided? How many cited references for each faculty member would each tool generate? Results demonstrated troubling differences in publication and citation activity capture between Scopus and Web of Science. Implications for librarians are discussed.     

Understanding user needs for citation management program support

Abstract

Citation management programs are tools used to organize references and to create citations and bibliographies. Libraries are often the central point for providing training and support in using these tools. To determine how we could improve our support and training services, we surveyed users to determine what software in being used, why they chose that particular program, what features are important, and how they use citation management programs to collaborate. Results indicate that users chose a particular program because it was freely available or recommended to them by others and that they thought that importing references and creating citations were important features. We also found a majority of respondents used citation management programs to collaborate and turned to the library for training and support.     

Bibilometrics Services and the Academic Library: Meeting the Emerging Needs of the Campus Community

The increasing importance of research assessment is but one factor within the ever-changing scholarly communication landscape that is challenging libraries to develop new services to serve the needs of their academic communities. Institutional budget allocations, grant funding, and faculty tenure and promotion increasingly depend on performance indicators, including bibliometrics such as citation counts, impact factors, the h-index, and other quantitative measurements of research output. With their longstanding expertise in collecting, categorizing, and analyzing data, not to mention their familiarity with scholarly databases and indexes tracking cited references, librarians are well qualified to meet the emerging demand for bibliometrics services.     

参考文献的著录质量亟待提高

指出参考文献著录中存在的9个方面的问题,包括机械式转引,非必要的引用,著录时效性不强,引用非正式文献,引用地域性窄,文献引用过少,不恰当自引,剽窃及文献著录形式上的错误,并提出一些在编辑加工过程中保证参考文献著录质量的措施.     

科技期刊参考文献数量与部分引证指标的定量关系初探

针对目前相关研究缺乏定量分析的现状,探讨中国科技期刊参考文献数量与总被引频次、影响因子的定量关系.根据《中国科技期刊引证报告》2000-2013年的相关统计数据,拟合出相应的关系曲线及公式,分析篇均引文数与平均总被引频次、篇均引文数与平均影响因子的关系和变化趋势.结果表明:篇均引文数与平均总被引频次呈现较好的线性关系;篇均引文数与平均影响因子呈现比较理想的三次多项式关系;拟合曲线与统计数据吻合良好.根据这2个拟合公式进行预测,当篇均引文数达到20时,中国科技核心期刊的平均总被引频次有望超过1 700,平均影响因子有望超过1.0.根据预测结果,如果篇均引文数能在现有基础上提高26％,则平均总被引频次有可能提高44％,平均影响因子有可能提高90％.     

The Researching Librarian

In reflective practice, librarians think back on their instruction to improve it, and this study addresses guidance provided for reflection on citation management instruction. We refined a previously developed reflective practice template for citation management instruction by asking instructors to critique the template’s set of reflective prompts. This survey also elicited the instructors’ suggestions for new reflective practice prompts. Forty-one librarians in the United States participated in the survey. Their responses allowed us to improve the prior reflective practice template.     

Cooperative Reference and Collection Development: The Science and Technology Group at the University of Tennessee Libraries

SUMMARY

The science and technology subject group within the reference department of the University of Tennessee Libraries brings together librarians from reference and other departments who have collection development and subject liaison duties. The authors describe the group's composition and explain how the sci/tech librarians work cooperatively toward goals set by both the Libraries' Reference & Instructional Services and Collection Development & Management departments. The sci/tech group's primary cooperative functions are to facilitate librarians' mutual assistance in organizing projects, share insights for reference and collection development/management activities, plan instruction efforts, discuss web site development, promote mastery of resources and tools, and address other concerns. The subject group enables librarians to clarify plans and procedures and to come to grips with complicated budget matters. A fundamental benefit of group discussions is that they provide an opportunity to explore viewpoints from librarians outside the reference team, leading to more well-rounded decisions. Together with the other subject groups, the sci/tech librarians and their coordinator identify major needs for information and work to provide solutions that improve library services to the academic community.     

Characterizing references from different disciplines: A perspective of citation content analysis

Multidisciplinary cooperation is now common in research since social issues inevitably involve multiple disciplines. In research articles, reference information, especially citation content, is an important representation of communication among different disciplines. Analyzing the distribution characteristics of references from different disciplines in research articles is basic to detecting the sources of referred information and identifying contributions of different disciplines. This work takes articles in PLoS as the data and characterizes the references from different disciplines based on Citation Content Analysis (CCA). First, we download 210,334 full-text articles from PLoS and collect the information of the in-text citations. Then, we identify the discipline of each reference in these academic articles. To characterize the distribution of these references, we analyze three characteristics, namely, the number of citations, the average cited intensity and the average citation length. Finally, we conclude that the distributions of references from different disciplines are significantly different. Although most references come from Natural Science, Humanities and Social Sciences play important roles in the Introduction and Background sections of the articles. Basic disciplines, such as Mathematics, mainly provide research methods in the articles in PLoS. Citations mentioned in the Results and Discussion sections of articles are mainly in-discipline citations, such as citations from Nursing and Medicine in PLoS.     

Adding Value at the Desk: How Technology and User Expectations are Changing Reference Work

The notion of what reference service ought to be continues to change as technology provides new ways to interact with users and alters their expectations of the library and librarians. As new tools for interaction become available, it is critical that librarians continuously evaluate their effectiveness at providing users with a valuable service that meets the needs of the community being served. By assessing tools and techniques in light of user expectations and satisfaction, librarians can come up with unique service programs that also incorporate their own knowledge and interpersonal skills.