Dual Libraries?

Elizabeth · May 12, 2008

I am a graduate student and a research assistant. I maintain my own Zotero library that I used for my writing and research. This summer I am a research assistant for a professor who wants me to start a Zotero library for the book she is working on. (She is a new Zotero user and does not have an existing library of her own.) I work from my own computer, taking notes on some of her sources, etc. How can I keep her Zotero library separate from mine and be able to update the library on her computer on a regular basis without giving her my library as well? Thanks.

Tjowens · May 12, 2008

Zotero 2.0's sharing features will make sharing a subset of your collection very easy, but as that is still several months away there are a few other ways you can manage this. First you could use Firefox's profile manager to keep two Firefox profiles, one for your research and one for hers. You could also install Flock (another Zotero compatible browser) and use it for her research collection and keep Firefox for your own.

In either of these methods the best way to transfer the collection to her computer is to replace her Zotero directory with the directory from your computer.

A final option could be to set up Zotero on a USB drive via portable Firefox and then pass the collection back and forth. I know a grad student doing just this for a similar arrangement with a faculty member at my own institution.