I wrote previously about Zotero proselytizing, and I think my choice of words was somewhat unfortunate. Some have seemed to take the term “proselytizing” in a negative light, while I didn’t mean it negatively. I also said that I feel like a traitor for mentioning Zotero, which has been quoted a couple of places. I’ll clarify on that below.
What’s been said
It started with Scott McLemee’s “Mark of Zotero” review in Inside Higher Ed. Stephen Bell commented, saying “Don’t Overlook Refworks.” On darcusblog, Bruce D’Arcus talks about librarian resistance to Zotero. Dan Cohen followed up with The Strange Dynamics of Technology Adoption and Promotion in Academia and Steve Lawson gave some good reasons for not promoting Zotero- including investment (monetary and human) in RefWorks, ease of use of RefWorks (since it’s web based there are fewer compatibility issues), and the fact that RefWorks allows easy export. (Whew! That’s a lot of links.)
My quote
Bruce D’Arcus quoted me in his post:
“I don’t talk about Zotero too much at work because we subscribe to, and are busy promoting- RefWorks. I feel sorta like a traitor”
and he replied:
“It’s really a shame, since it seems that the only thing this student is betraying in promoting Zotero is a rather narrow-minded organizational group think; not their end users.”
I agree it is a shame, but it’s really all on me, not on my organization. It’s not like I’ve met with resistance, it’s all in my head. For one thing, I’m not really in a position to promote Zotero to users. I mention it whenever I can, to fellow students, co-workers, etc., but my position doesn’t involve contact with patrons. Mostly, I’m met with blank stares, not resistance.
What can I do?
The conversation taking place has made me realize that I really want to do more to raise awareness at my library. So, I proposed a brown bag for next semester in which I will talk about Zotero and RefWorks and the differences between them. I don’t intend the presentation to be Zotero proselytizing. I just want to inform what Zotero is, how it is similar and how it is different from RefWorks, and how I use Zotero in my own research.
Expect more posts from me (probably in December, when I’m done with homework for the semester) on differences between Zotero and Refworks and how I use Zotero. In the meantime, the folks at Zotero have created a very nice screencast of using Word and Zotero (I finally tried this and it’s great!) Oh, and if you want to use the Zotero plugin in Open Office Portable, check out this page.
Photo Zotero Plate from flickr user smleon.
Keep up the Zotero proselytizing! It’s tools like Zotero that actually make the mundane parts of research (storing, managing bibliographies and notes) really fun.
Karin;
I haven’t needed to use RefWorks much recently, and but *have* started proselytizing about Zotero to my public health students (despite being on a RefWorks campus). When you get something put together about RefWorks vs Zotero, I’d love to see it.
And hey! I just noticed that you have our (Ebling’s) Citation Mgmt page in your del.icio.us! Thanks!
Erika,
I bookmarked your page because I’m looking at a few of the pages that mention both RefWorks and Zotero- it doesn’t have to be either/or. I really like the navigation on your page, too – Research Help > Citation management makes so much sense!