Zotero for Scholars

Posted by Kenneth Ronkowitz on


A group of scholars at George Mason University released a free browser enhancement (beta version 1) last month.

You may have read about the project about a year ago when it was called "Firefox Scholar", but it is now called Zotero.

The idea for the tool was to use software built in to a browser (it uses the newest version of Firefox) that would allow a user to import Web pages and citation information from them, into a personal filing system (whether bibliography or the full text of articles), allowing you to annotate, organize, and share the results.

Here's some information on the tool from their web site:

"It includes the best parts of older reference-manager software (like EndNote)—the ability to store full reference information in author, title, and publication fields and to export that as formatted references—and the best parts of modern software such as del.icio.us or iTunes, like the ability to sort, tag, and search in advanced ways. Using its unique ability to sense when you are viewing a book, article, or other resource on the web, Zotero will—on many major research sites—find and automatically save the full reference information for you in the correct fields."

The 1.0 beta release of Zotero will allow automatic updates this fall and winter so that it will recognize even more online resources, even better support for importing and exporting entire collections, and integration with Microsoft Word and other word processors.

Upcoming features are planned to include:

  • share collections with other users
  • collaborate on research projects
  • send collections to other free web services (such as mapping or translation sites)
  • receive recommendations and feeds of new resources that might be of interest
  • evolution to a full-fledged tool for digital research and communications
Zotero is a production of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University and is funded by the United States Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

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