Zotero Connector (Firefox) storing library catalog entry in URL field

leverarchfile

I am using Zotero Connector on Firefox. When adding items, the 'Library Catalogue' field is populated with the name of the catalogue (e.g. JSTOR), and a link for the library catalogue entry is stored in the 'URL' field.

While it could be useful to store a link to the library catalogue entry, I don't think it should be used to populate the 'URL' field, because this causes it to be included in reference lists.

Would it be possible to revert to the behaviour I have seen previously, where a link to the library catalogue entry is stored in the 'Library Catalogue' field?

dstillman

You're misremembering.

The name of the website (or, to be more specific, the Zotero translator used, in most cases) has always been stored in the Library Catalog field.

JSTOR isn't a library catalog — it's a digital library. It serves the actual content at stable URLs, so it's therefore appropriate to include its URLs in the URL field for use in reference lists. Zotero has always done so.

leverarchfile

Thanks for your reply, and apologies if I've misremembered.

The reason I would prefer not to include links from catalogues, libraries, or databases is due to this requirement in APA 7th:
"For works without DOIs from most academic research databases, do not include a URL or database information in the reference because these works are widely available. The reference should be the same as the reference for a print version of the work."

Here is one of the links that Zotero Connector included the 'URL' field: http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/auckland/detail.action?docID=6797118

While it could be useful to store that link, my understanding is that it shouldn't be included in reference lists (at least not for APA 7th). I think this also applies to JSTOR, as an 'academic research database'.

dstillman

Discussed here:

https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/100412/excluding-urls-from-print-citations-in-apa-7

leverarchfile

Thank you so much, very helpful.

I now think Zotero Connector is doing the right thing, and this changes how I'll approach the inclusion of URLs in my reference lists.

leverarchfile

The only thing I'm not sure about — if you look at my example link above — is if it's a good idea to include those links that take you to a particular institution's login page to access the work.

Some links (e.g. EBSCO) go to a page where you can select 'not my institution', but this doesn't seem to be the case for all databases/translators.

dstillman

Right, I was actually going to clarify that I was talking primarily about your initial example of JSTOR, which has stable URLs that provide full-text content to anyone with access to JSTOR.

Your ProQuest URL should not be included, because that URL simply redirects to your institution's login page. @adamsmith wrote the ProQuest Ebook Central translator, so I'll let him comment on this, but from the looks of it, that translator mostly downloads the RIS that ProQuest provides, and they're putting these institution-specific URLs into the URL field of the RIS file, which seems wrong. So there's an argument to be made that we should move those to attached links instead.

adamsmith

ProQuest is an edge case -- the books are (obviously) online and the links are somewhat useful beyond a given institution: the docid is the same across all institutions (so you only have to switch them out 'auckland' with 'berkeley-ebooks', 'syracuse-ebooks' etc.) but Proquest doesn't have institution-agnostic links that would make more sense to include. I could go either way with this, obviously easy to move the link from the URL field.

leverarchfile

Good to know those ProQuest links can be useful, though I'm not sure how many people would think to swap out the institution name in the URL.

I suppose an 'institution-specific url' field and an optional export setting would be another option, but perhaps too much just for an edge case...

dstillman

Annoying that ProQuest doesn't offer institution-agnostic links, but given that, I think saving it as a link makes more sense.

leverarchfile

I've written to ProQuest to ask if they'd consider switching to institution-agnostic links. Worth a shot.