TY - JOUR
T1 - Leave the browser behind
T2 - Placing discovery within the user’s workflow
AU - Cahoy, Ellysa Stern
N1 - Funding Information:
This article explores the concept of embedding discovery within citation management software with an eye towards other software environments in the research workflow that might also incorporate discovery. First, we review efforts to place information retrieval within citation management software, and explore related literature on situating discovery more intuitively for researchers. We look at the most frequently adopted citation management software in current use. Building upon this prior research, we describe the results of interviews with Penn State faculty members, focused on their research workflows. This research follows the findings from a qualitative, ethnographic study funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, analyzing how users at Penn State University, University Park, find, store, annotate, cite, and share information resources (Antonijević & Cahoy, 2014). The findings from this study indicated that two pervasive areas of disconnect exist
Funding Information:
Firefox/Chrome/Safari/IE). A later version extended a desktop version, Zotero Standalone. Until 2016, options for discovery were not available within the Zotero interface, perhaps because Zotero was situated directly within the discovery portal itself (the Web browser). A new optimization created in 2016 (and funded by a Mellon Foundation grant awarded to the author and Zotero) allows for user created feeds within the Zotero interface. These feeds can be for a search, a journal title (and affiliated new articles) or other relevant syndicated content. The user views the feeds within the Zotero interface, and selects specific items from the feed to add to their Zotero library. There is a complexity to this feature, in that a user must know how to create and put to use an RSS feed. As this is a very new service (still in beta testing) within Zotero, its utility and level of usage remain to be seen.
Funding Information:
In 2012, the author received a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to conduct research on faculty management of information within the scholarly workflow, including discovery and self-archiving of significant works (Penn State University, 2016). This grant was followed up in 2014 by another Mellon Foundation grant, enabling further research on the scholarly workflow, including software development by George Mason University’s citation management software, Zotero, to embed new options for workflow management within the Zotero environment (Penn State University, 2014).
Funding Information:
We thank the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for their generous support of the research described in this article. Thank you to Smiljana Antonijević Ubois, Jeff Edmunds, Eric Novotny, and John Meier for their valuable feedback and insights on the research studies described in this article.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Igitur, Utrecht Publishing and Archiving Services. All rights reserved.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - As library discovery and delivery has largely moved online, the scholarly workflow of academic researchers has become increasingly fragmented. Faculty are using a variety of software solutions to find, retrieve, organize, annotate, cite, and share information, including library resources. This article discusses the significance of situating discovery, the act of finding new information, within software central to the research workflow, such as citation management software. The current status of discovery of library resources within citation management software is outlined, along with expected future developments. Utilizing findings from two Mellon funded studies, it explores the challenges users face in managing their individual scholarly workflows, and recommends optimizations designed to mitigate information loss and increase researcher productivity.
AB - As library discovery and delivery has largely moved online, the scholarly workflow of academic researchers has become increasingly fragmented. Faculty are using a variety of software solutions to find, retrieve, organize, annotate, cite, and share information, including library resources. This article discusses the significance of situating discovery, the act of finding new information, within software central to the research workflow, such as citation management software. The current status of discovery of library resources within citation management software is outlined, along with expected future developments. Utilizing findings from two Mellon funded studies, it explores the challenges users face in managing their individual scholarly workflows, and recommends optimizations designed to mitigate information loss and increase researcher productivity.
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U2 - 10.18352/lq.10221
DO - 10.18352/lq.10221
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85042522922
VL - 28
JO - LIBER Quarterly
JF - LIBER Quarterly
SN - 1435-5205
IS - 1
ER -