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RefWorks:
Time-Saving Bibliographic Management Software for Digital Natives As Well As Digital Immigrants

Carol Budd
St. Lawrence University
cbudd@stlawu.edu

Do you and your students spend more time than you want inserting citations and constructing bibliographies for papers and lab reports? Many of you have probably used EndNote to assist in this task professionally. In an effort to introduce my students to state of the art bibliographic management software, I recently applied for a small technology grant from our Center for Teaching and Learning to purchase RefWorks (http://www.refworks.com). The technology has matured to the point that it has tremendous potential for both students and faculty. Consider, for example, the value to students working on senior year research projects or groups of students collaborating on a research project that requires the sharing of citations. They have a multitude of journals that students can choose for bibliographic output, including MLA, APA, CBE and Turbarian.

RefWorks is an economical solution to providing our entire campus with bibliographic management software. The site license was $2000, and our library committed to make the upgrades annually. EndNote, another bibliographic management software, is too expensive. Thompson Research Soft quoted $180/work station or + $5,000 per year for a site license, no exceptions (http://www.isiresearchsoft.com ). However, I did find it at http://www.amazon.com for $85/station. Go figure.

Our science librarian had been researching practical solutions for campus use for the past two years. His research indicated that major universities, and especially liberal arts colleges, are moving to RefWorks as opposed to EndNote. Other institutions currently licensing RefWorks include: Colgate College, Gettysburg College, Dickinson College, Antioch College, Beloit College, Connecticut College, Dickinson College, Mount Holyoke College, Oberlin College, Vassar College, and Wheaton College.

Before I purchased RefWorks, I downloaded a free 30-day trial from their web site. During the trial, I attempted many tasks and contacted their tech support as needed. All my tech support contact occurred via e-mail. Responses to my requests were answered within one day and contained questions to make sure I was OK. It turns out that if they don't have a particular journal you would like as an output style, all you have to do is ask and their technical support will add the journal to the list of choices. I added four journals in the first day of my 30-day free trial: Journal of Mammalogy, Conservation Biology, Journal of Plant Physiology, and Canadian Journal of Botany. Tech support returned confirmation same day. I have since added 12 more journals after consultation with Biology Department members. RefWorks Tech support was very thorough, efficient and timely in their responses. For a look at the journal outputs, visit http://www.refworks.com/RWSingle/outputformatlist.asp. Because the RefWorks server is hosted remotely, any requests that I make get implemented for other licensed users.

RefWorks allows you to:

• Format bibliographies and manuscripts in seconds – and easily make changes to your paper - and reformat quickly.
• Import references from bibliographic databases with one click of a button (including many – but not all - of the 123 databases to which our St. Lawrence University libraries subscribe).
• Share citations in RefWorks bibliographies between students or faculty. This has the potential to increase collaboration. Multiple users can also access and update a unified database.
• Easily search the citation database. RefWorks automatically creates author, descriptor and periodical indexes when importing so you just click on the word to perform the retrieval.
• Operate easily from ANY available web connection.

Why an Internet-based solution?

• Unlimited site-wide access. RefWorks is instantly available institute wide - no downloading or installation is needed. It is easy to deliver, maintain and support!
• Upgrades are included. All upgrades are included in the subscription price. There is no extra charge for new features.
• The program can be used across multiple platforms. As a web-based product, RefWorks is available to users across various platforms including Windows, Mac, Unix etc.
• It is easy to deliver upgrades. The latest upgrades are loaded on the RefWorks server; all users automatically have access to the most recent version.
• The program is available from anywhere. Authorized users may access the program from anywhere at anytime. There is no extra charge or tracking hassles.

I have instructed my first year seminar students in the use of RefWorks in the past two weeks. They have found it immediately useful for their work in my seminar and have expressed that it is applicable to all their classes requiring them to write papers. The ease of use for beginning students intuitively makes me wonder why we are late to this software. My IT folks tell me that our "digital native" students will probably adapt to this software more quickly than many of my "digital immigrant" colleagues. I just remember how long it took me to type my thesis bibliography prior to my defense (trying not to give too much chronology away here)!

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