When I first became an Internet junkie in the mid-1990′s, I tended to bounce back and forth between Internet Explorer and Netscape, typically leaving the one that had last crashed, moving sullenly to the other. Then at some point in the late 90′s, I just sort of gravitated to IE and have used it almost exclusively ever since, mostly because online course management systems tend to design their platforms toward IE because it has dominated the market for so long.
However, with the advent of Web 2.0, Mozilla Firefox has been able to assert itself in the browser market due to its being much more conducive to the new 2.0 applications and plug-ins. Of course, I’ve been aware of this for some time but have, nonetheless, remained stuck in the IE rut. However, I recently discovered an application today that might change all of that.
One morning this week, instead of doing what she was supposed to do, my idiosyncratically useful assistant, Susan, happened upon something called Zotero, which, as stated by their website, is a “free, easy-to-use Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources.”
I can’t tell you how many times I have struggled to keep track of resources that I’ve found for some project, especially for a project that I’m not immersed in at the moment. I will often happen upon a book, article, or website that sounds like something perfect for a project I am planning to do when I finish my current project, and most of the time I will then save it somewhere for later. However, when later comes, either I can’t remember where I’d saved it or I’ve forgotten all about it all together, so that I don’t think to try to find it again.
Zotero can solve most of those problems. When you find something on the web, whether it be in a library catalog, an online database, or any other site with bibliographic information, you can save it into Zotero with a simple click and then add it to your library. You can also organize your library by creating collections, and Zotero will allow you to put the same resource into multiple collections.
What is really neat about Zotero, however, is that it automatically pulls the bibliographic information into its database (so that you don’t have to do it manually) and will then allow you to insert that information into a Word document. In addition, on pages that don’t include proper citation information, Zotero lets you either save a link to the page or take a snapshot of the page. You can also upload your own files and “attach” them to online resources. In addition, Zotero lets you attach notes to resources so that you can remember why you saved it in the first place.
I have just started to realize the benefits of this resource, and as I become more familiar with it, I will keep you posted. However, it seems to provide very promising benefits to faculty and graduate students, and possibly even to undergraduates. I would be interested in hearing your experiences with Zotero as well.
It is important to note, however, that Zotero does not work with IE, so to be able to use it, you must make the switch to Firefox.
For more information on Zotero, visit http://www.zotero.org/.
You should have come to my Tech Fair presentation. I had Zotero info there. ;P