Further to enquiries about getting the RefWorks catalogue search working again, our esteemed colleague Elif Varol has written an excellent step-by-step guide, with screenshots, on using the catalogue search.
There’s more information on the Thought Cloud blog: http://elif.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/tag/refworks/
If you would like help with Refworks please email us at businesslibrarian@lincoln.ac.uk and we’ll be happy to help. It’s easier than you may think!
At the request of the School of Engineering, we have added a new citation output style to the ‘University of Lincoln Specific‘ list of styles preferred and/or supported at the University of Lincoln.
The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) citation reference style is a broadly-recognised format for writing research papers in technical fields, including computer science as well as engineering.
It’s now available to select within RefWorks’ “Create Bibliography” menu, as well as in the Write-N-Cite application. The list of Lincoln-specific output styles now consists of five options:
For help with referencing style and with using RefWorks, contact your subject librarian or email: RefWorks@lincoln.ac.uk
RefWorks has a handy feature where you could import the book record to your RefWorks account without manually putting it in which can be time consuming. My colleague wrote a blog post and recorded a short video about how to do it a while ago however, since then the interface has changed and we have been getting enquiries asking if there is a less time consuming way to import book records from our library catalogue. Steps and screenshots below explain how to do this.
1. Log on to RefWorks via Portal and go to the Search menu and select Online Catalog or Database.
2. A new window will appear. Click on the drop down list of catalogues marked Search: and pick the University of Lincoln Library Catalogue from towards the top of the list.
3. Enter your search term(s) in the Quick Search box and hit Search.
This can take quite a while, even for only a few references, so it’s a good idea to be as specific as possible in your search.
4. Select the book(s) that you are interested in by ticking the Ref ID box next to each record and choose the folder from the Import to folder drop down box at the top then hit the Import button at the bottom right-hand corner.
5. RefWorks will ask “Are you sure…?” – select OK.
6. RefWorks will tell you when the import is completed and how many references it has imported. You can see the references when you click on View Last Imported Folder. If you choose a specific folder for importing your references on step 4, the references will be in that particular folder as well as in the Last Imported folder.
My colleagues in e-Library Services at Lincoln have been spending the last few weeks updating our Library Management System (LMS) – SirsiDynix Horizon. This work included upgrading from v7.34 to v7.51b of the Horizon software itself (and from v3.08 to v3.21 of our library catalogue HiP) as well as moving Horizon off an internal Lincoln server to external SaaS, and re-connecting all the associated systems (access control; Keystone; the 2CQR Lucid self-service touchscreen software, etc.).
We’ve also changed our connection details for remote searching of our library catalogue via the Z39.50 protocol. Our new Z39.50 URL is z3950s://www.library.lincoln.ac.uk:210/lincoln (replacing the old z3950s://194.80.48.4:210/horizon).
A couple of people on Twitter asked why I was bothering. Z39.50 is a national and international (ISO 23950) standard defining a protocol for computer-to-computer information retrieval – and is pretty much the definition of dinosaur library tech:
@pstainthorp I can just picture all those “the library is bloody awful — it doesn’t have a Z39.50 server” NSS comments
— Dave Pattern (@daveyp) April 26, 2012
But secretly I ❤ Z39.50. Also, a few services listed below—most notably RefWorks—still make use of it. The full details of our new Z39.50 setup are:
And here’s a very short list of registries and services that list and/or make use of our Z39.50 profile. I’ll add to this list if any more come to light.
For testing Z39.50 in the past, I have used the free-to-download Mercury Z39.50 Client from Basedow Information Systems. Other client software is available.
A couple of people have asked me where the ‘references not in a folder’ option can be found in the new version of RefWorks. If you log in to your RefWorks account then click on the ‘Organize & Share Folders‘ tab, a link to the number of unsorted references is displayed above the folder list. (“You have n reference(s) not in folders.) Clicking on the hyperlinked number will take you to a list of those unsorted references, from where they can be organised into folders.
Following on from the final push to get everyone* using the new version of RefWorks, the people at RefWorks-COS are now working on upgrading the associated desktop/word processor application, Write-N-Cite. RefWorks say they are “very close” to releasing the new version of Write-N-Cite for Windows, and have today launched a series of introductory webinars (web-based training sessions) to prepare people for the change.
You can sign up for a webinar via RefWorks’ website.
“The full release version of Write-N-Cite will run on Word for Windows 2007 & 2010 as well as Word for Mac 2008 & 2011. […] Key improvements of the new Write-N-Cite:
• Auto formatting while you write
• Seamless online/offline access to your references
• Professional citation and bibliography customization tools
• Auto managed footnote styles”
*N.B. at the time of writing, it’s still possible to switch back to the ‘Classic’ version of RefWorks, using a link in the top right-hand corner of your RefWorks account. RefWorks-COS did threaten that this option would be removed for good, early in 2012, so don’t expect it to be there for much longer!
The switchover date has passed, and you should now find that the new RefWorks 2.0 is now your ‘default’ view of RefWorks.
(Don’t worry if you still pine for the old ‘classic’ version of RefWorks – you can still switch back if you want to, until the end of 2011. In the new year, the old RefWorks will disappear for good.)
The Library has prepared these four detailed help guides for people getting to grips with RefWorks 2.0:
*N.B. RefWorks are releasing a new version of Write-N-Cite soon.
For help with using RefWorks, please email: RefWorks@lincoln.ac.uk
I’ve had a useful meeting with my new boss to agree my priorities for the next 12 months of development work in the Library. Here are my top 4, in order of importance.
The following are projects—part of the current Library I.T. strategy—that I’ll contribute to but probably won’t lead, and/or work that’s going on in the background that I need to stay abreast of:
G’won then: what have I forgotten about?
Here’s a glitch affecting people with Windows 7 PCs/laptops, using Internet Explorer 9.
When adding a new reference to RefWorks (in the new RefWorks 2.0 interface), you may find that the Title field is inactive – the cursor doesn’t appear, and you will be unable to type anything in the field.
To fix this, look in the right-hand side of the browser address bar for an icon that looks like a white piece of paper torn in half. Click on this icon to turn it blue. This enables IE9 ”Compatibility View“, and makes it possible to enter text into the Title field in RefWorks 2.0.
Please email RefWorks@lincoln.ac.uk if you experience any problems.
RefWorks have released a load of new help material in preparation for the final move to RefWorks 2.0.
Links to RefWorks help material on the Portal have been updated.
Remember that RefWorks 2.0 becomes the ‘default’ version of RefWorks after the 29th of October, and that the old ‘classic’ RefWorks will be switched off entirely at the end of 2011.
(If you haven’t tried the new version yet, you can take a look at it by logging in to RefWorks, then clicking on the ‘RefWorks 2.0′ link in the top right-hand corner of the screen.)
For help with using RefWorks, please email: RefWorks@lincoln.ac.uk