RefWorks, a bibliographic management program similar to EndNote and Reference Manager, is now available to all UNMC-affiliated faculty, staff and students without charge.
“RefWorks can help you keep track of the literature that is important to your work or studies,” said Cindy Schmidt, M.D., reference librarian in the McGoogan Library. “After creating your individual RefWorks account through the McGoogan Library’s site license, you can begin building your RefWorks database.”
Individuals can manually create RefWorks records for books, journal articles or Web sites, or import records for journal articles and books from MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Helix and FirstSearch, into a RefWorks database. Each record created in RefWorks will contain a “Check for UNMC Full-text” button. If the record contains the bibliographic information for a journal article, the “Check for UNMC full-text” button will link individuals to any electronic, full-text versions of the article available through the McGoogan Library. Best of all, Dr. Schmidt said, individuals may use the created RefWorks database to insert citations in papers and quickly create bibliographies.
RefWorks Trainer Aimee Leverette will demonstrate these features during a brown bag training session Tuesday, June 13, from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Wittson Hall Amphitheater. Bring your lunch and eat while you learn to use RefWorks. UNMC librarians will offer additional training sessions later this year, but this is the only time during the 2006-2007 academic year that a Refworks-affiliated trainer will be on campus.
The McGoogan Library staff decided to license RefWorks for several reasons, Dr. Schmidt said, including continued faculty and student demand for bibliographic management software, RefWorks’ strong collaborative features, RefWorks’ Blackboard module and RefWorks’ reasonable licensing fees. RefWorks’ collaborative features set it apart from other, currently available, bibliographic management programs, Dr. Schmidt said.
She cited the following examples of how RefWorks can help individuals work with colleagues and students:
- RefWorks is a Web-based product, so a single RefWorks database can be shared by colleagues using Mac and Windows operating systems (without causing problems with the database).
- RefWorks users can share their RefWorks databases with colleagues who don’t have access to RefWorks. The database owner simply sends the colleague a Web address for the portion of the database he/she wishes to share. The colleague can then view or download records. Any additions or deletions made by the database’s owner in the future will be present in the version of the database that is then available to the sharer.
- Teachers, leaders of journal clubs, and students preparing group projects can create and share a folder containing the RefWorks records for recommended readings or project references. If the shared folder includes records for articles that are provided in electronic full-text by the McGoogan Library, the “Check for UNMC full-text” buttons in the RefWorks records will provide links to the full-text of these articles.
RefWorks records can be imported into EndNote, Reference Manager or ProCite and vice versa. “It’s likely that those already using other bibliographic management programs will find that they want to use RefWorks for a few functions but will continue to use their current program for most functions,” Dr. Schmidt said.
How can you get your RefWorks account? A link to RefWorks can be found on the Library’s ‘Online Resources’ page. To reach the link, go to the Library’s home page (http://www.unmc.edu/library), click on “Online Resources,” click on “R,” click on “RefWorks,” after reaching the RefWorks log-in page click the “Sign up for an Individual Account” link. Keep a record of the username and password you choose (McGoogan Library will not have any record of this information). You may need UNMC’s RefWorks group code in the future. To find this code and links to the Quick Start Guide and the RefWorks Online Tutorial, just click on the red “i” icon next to the “RefWorks” link on the Library’s “Online Resources” page.
If you’d like to attend a RefWorks training session, but won’t be able to attend the June 13 session or want to attend a smaller or additional class, contact Dr. Schmidt (cmschmidt@unmc.edu or 559-7077). Contact Dr. Schmidt with any questions about RefWorks or for help with RefWorks-related problems.