2016 LibTech Conference

Citation managers are commonly promoted in academic libraries, but the technology is changing rapidly. As subscription services grow more expensive and free services offer institutional packages, detailed assessments are needed of user behavior and the most valued features of these tools.

Regardless of the size of an institution, libraries face difficult choices in the years ahead between free citation tools that may sacrifice necessary functions and subscription tools that may put pressure on our budgets but provide a better service. To address this problem, we undertook a project to evaluate how these products meet the needs of users in a large research university. We will report on the results of a survey of over 750 faculty and graduate students and share the results of other information gathering efforts. Attendees will learn what features and functions users find most important in a citation manager and receive an in-depth evaluation of the latest developments in citation software. We will also share our rubric for evaluating citation managers based on weighted criteria identified in the survey. Our presentation will focus on EndNote, Mendeley, RefWorks/Flow, and Zotero but we will also discuss other products and tools that emerged in the survey.