Continuing ed classes: Zotero and Instruction Boot Camp
I'm teaching two classes for Simmons College's Continuing Education program in the next few months.
February 2012: Zotero: Using and Supporting the Research Power Tool: This is my four-week class on Zotero. We'll cover the basics of installing and using Zotero, all the way up through best practices for supporting and teaching Zotero in your library. (And you get the e-edition of my book along with the course.)
May 1-June 11 2012: Instruction Librarian Boot Camp: We just expanded this course to six weeks based on students' requests to make it longer! This is a great class for new LIS grads looking for your first instruction librarian jobs, or seasoned instructors looking to improve your skills. We cover learning outcomes, technology tools, active learning, and assessment. I'm co-teaching this class with my GSU colleague Sarah Steiner.
Zotero apps for Android
I'm slowing down from fall semester madness just long enough to mention that there are now not one, but two Zotero-related apps available for sale in the Android store:
Zandy, a client allowing library access/viewing/editing from your mobile device, and
Scanner for Zotero, an app that replicates some of the Zotero "magic wand" function by allowing you to scan ISBN barcodes to add items to your Zotero library.
I've tried Zandy just a bit and it seems to work fine for what I've done with it so far -- I haven't yet tried out Scanner, but both apps look promising and interesting. (Obviously, I'm not affiliated with either project.)
Edited to add: iPhone/Zotero users should take a look at BibUp, a project of the University of Fribourg.
Zotero book now available
I'm pleased and proud to announce that my book is now officially available from ACRL Publications! You can buy it on Amazon or from the ALA Store, in print or ebook editions. It will be available at the bookstore at ALA Annual in New Orleans this week.
If you're considering an ebook edition, I recommend buying it from the ALA Store: you'll get DRM-free PDF, ePub, and Kindle/Mobipocket files that will work on just about any device out there. ALA also sells a print/ebook bundle. (As is unfortunately always the case, the Kindle edition sold by Amazon is encumbered with Amazon's DRM.)
Here's the ACRL press release:
ACRL announces the publication of Zotero: A Guide for Librarians, Researchers and Educators. Authored by Jason Puckett of Georgia State University. Zotero: A Guide for Librarians, Researchers and Educators is the first book-length treatment of this powerful research tool developed by the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University.
Written for end users, librarians and teachers, the book introduces Zotero and presents it in the context of bibliography managers and open source software. Puckett then provides detailed instructions on using the software in research and writing, along with a wealth of useful information including instructional best practices, examples, support tips and advanced techniques for those who teach and support Zotero.
"Puckett draws on his deep understanding of Zotero's technology to provide clear, concise
guidelines and tips for beginners and experts alike," says Sean Takats, co-director of Zotero, assistant professor of History at George Mason University and director of research projects at the Center for History and New Media. "As a bonus, he convincingly argues why you -- yes, you -- need to be using research software and why Zotero is the best choice."
A perfect guidebook to a robust open access research tool that allows the user to manage all aspects of bibliographic data, Zotero: A Guide for Librarians, Researchers and Educators is essential for librarians, classroom faculty and students alike.
Zotero: A Guide for Librarians, Researchers and Educators will be available at the 2011 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans and is available for purchase in print and as an ePub, Kindle or PDF e-book through the ALA Online Store; in print and for Kindle through Amazon.com; and by telephone order at (866) 746-7252 in the U.S. or (770) 442-8633 for international customers.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8389-8589-2
Price: $36
E-Book Price: $12
Readability and Zotero
Zotero users are probably aware that it doesn't automatically include citation info like dates and author names when saving a citation to a website.
Yesterday, Amy Cavender posted an article to Profhacker explaining how to use the Readability plugin to improve Zotero's ability to save website citations. In a nutshell, clicking the Readability button generates enough metadata for Zotero to pick up the author name (although not perfectly in my screenshot example) and website title, and sometimes date of publication depending on the site -- and it also cleans up the Zotero snapshot, eliminating extraneous ads and graphics.
For more details, read the post:
Use Readability to Make Sites Zotero-Friendly (Profhacker)
Bibliography of Zotero book
I've posted the bibliography and chapter titles of my upcoming book on my Zotero page. (Edited to add: Also available in a shared Zotero library.)
No firm release date yet, but we're still expecting it to be available by ALA Annual.
Zotero book updates
I talked to my editor Kathryn Deiss at ACRL yesterday, and I can say the following things about my upcoming Zotero book with a reasonable amount of confidence:
I'll be rewriting and editing through the end of March and maybe a bit into April.
The book will probably be available for purchase in May or June. We expect it to be on the shelves of the bookstore at ALA Annual.
The cover will be designed by Christian Steinmetz, our library's Creative Manager and (in his spare time) comics creator extraordinaire.
There will be e-book editions available from Amazon (with the usual non-optional Kindle DRM) and directly from ACRL (without DRM), hopefully simultaneous with the print release.
The table of contents consists of:
- Introduction (how I became so invested in using Zotero)
- 1. About Zotero (what it is, a bit about open source software, why I think Zotero rocks)
- 2. Setting up (installing the Firefox and Standalone versions)
- 3. Creating your library (putting stuff into Zotero, organizing and so on)
- 4. Creating bibliographies and writing with Zotero (using Zotero with Word and other word processors, citing and writing and related topics)
- 5. Zotero online (syncing, using group libraries, and using Zotero for collaborative work)
- 6. Teaching Zotero (using Zotero with classes, teaching workshops in person and online, lots of real-world examples)
- 7. Supporting Zotero (Zotero "champions," Zotero outreach on your campus, providing staff training, what your IT staff might need to know)
I'm using the rough draft as a text for my Zotero class for Simmons SLIS this month.
Thanks to everyone who's provided input and suggestions so far. I'll be really excited to see this thing go out into the world this summer.
Do you teach Zotero?
I'm closing in on the second half of my Zotero book, getting out of the how-to chapters and into the (more interesting, I think) best practices stuff.
If you teach Zotero, either as a one-off workshop or a credit course, I'd really like to hear from you as I prepare to write the chapters on teaching and support. Please post here or email me (jason at librarianX dot net).
These are the standard questions I've been asking teachers. They're meant to elicit as much or as little commentary as you care to contribute. If I use anything you send me, of course I'll mention your name with gratitude in the acknowledgments!
- How do you use Zotero in your classes?
- Why did you choose to incorporate Zotero into your classwork?
- How have your students taken to it? Any problems? Any notable student feedback?
- What do you think your students have gotten out of using it?
- I’d like to show some real-world examples of class assignments or teaching activities that incorporate Zotero. Do you have any you could share, and may I quote from your assignment in my book?
Presentation at COMO Athens GA next week
Just a quick note to say I'll be presenting a session called "Zotero: Using, Teaching and Supporting The Open-Source Citation Tool" at the Georgia COMO conference in Athens next week. (This is indeed my Year To Talk About Zotero a Lot.) It'll be a little bit of how-to, but mostly about why open source is good, why Zotero is my reference manager of choice, and its potential for researchers, librarians and teachers. It's Thursday October 14, 4:30pm in Athena Ballroom J. Say hi if you can make it.
I’m writing a Zotero book
"1947 Continental" by Olivander
I'm really pleased and excited to announce that I'm writing a book about Zotero for ACRL Publications. (This is one reason I've been all "Zotero Zotero Zotero" on the blog lately. ...More than usual, I mean.)
The working title is Zotero: A guide for librarians, teachers and researchers. It will be part how-to guide for Zotero users and partly about supporting, promoting and teaching Zotero.
For my research, I'm really interested in hearing from:
- librarians and educators who are incorporating Zotero into teaching, from high school through grad classes
- campus Zotero advocates who are engaging in interesting promotional and outreach activities
- Zotero users who are using it in interesting or unusual ways
If you're doing any of those things please email me or leave a comment! I'm writing through the beginning of 2011 and I'm expecting it to go to print in the spring. I'm sure I'll be posting about it here as it progresses.
A big thank you to Kathryn Deiss at ACRL Publications for working with me on this!
Archived Zotero presentation
I gave an online Zotero talk for GALILEO last week. Here's the audio and video archive. It's part software how-to and partly a discussion of how I teach and support Zotero in our library. EDIT: No password needed -- just leave it blank and click Enter.
I'm doing another one for them in November (and one on Libguides in early August), and I hope to be a little less awkward with the Wimba presentation software at that point!
My Zotero book
Adventures in Library Instruction podcast
My posts @GSU Library
I Support
Twittering
- GSU students who ask us when's a good time to find an available library study room: turns out the answer is Superbowl Sunday. #tumbleweeds