Q&A with Randall Roberts

The University Libraries provide countless research tools; and RefWorks, one of the most valuable of these, was recently introduced to the university community. Randall Roberts, the liaison librarian for students and faculty in McMicken's Departments of Psychology and Sociology and CECH’s Criminal Justice division, is the instructor for RefWorks, EndNote, and ProCite, all of which are bibliographic management tools. Here he provides a detailed explanation of resources available to library users.

Q: What is RefWorks and how long has it been available here?

A: We introduced RefWorks in 2004. It’s an Internet-based research records management service that enables you to easily collect and manage citations to articles, books, web pages, and other types of sources. With RefWorks you can electronically collect references from hundreds of databases, manage all these resources, link to full-text articles, and automatically generate in-text citations and bibliographies in almost any output style. It allows you to create your own personal database of references. Because the database is available over the Internet, you always have access to the references.

Q: Is RefWorks available to any member of the campus community?

A: Yes. All University of Cincinnati students, faculty, and staff have the right to use it, and it’s a free service.

Q: How does a person access it?

A: The process is easy. All a user has to do is go to the University Libraries’ RefWorks web page (http://devwww.lang.uc.edu/research/reference/refworks.html) and click on the “Connect to RefWorks” link that’s applicable to the user’s connection status. In other words, you indicate whether you are on or off campus at the time you’re working with the system. Anyone who has questions can call me at 556-1864. In addition, people who are interested in information about setting up a RefWorks account, tutorials, and workshops should check the University Libraries’ RefWorks page.

Q: What about EndNote and ProCite? Are they similar?

A: To some extent, but EndNote and ProCite are PC based tools that need to be installed on a personal PC. The UC Bookstore sells EndNote, and ProCite can be purchased online at (www.ProCite.com).

Q: Are there other differences?

A: ProCite is probably the most sophisticated, but it has the lowest market share of the three and hasn’t received a major upgrade since 1999, so its future looks dim. EndNote is the market share leader and is a very sophisticated personal tool. It appears to be well established here, and the EndNote workshops offered on the west campus are usually well attended. RefWorks, though new, is a burgeoning service. In less than two years, UC students, faculty, and staff have created over 900 accounts. It lacks some of the more advanced features of EndNote but has the advantages of being available 24/7 as an Internet based service from any point where there’s Internet access. And, as I said, it’s free to authorized UC users.

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