Access to student libraries

kkaatz

Hi there. I will be teaching a course and including Zotero. I am wondering if the libraries that students are be creating can be shareable with me. I don't want to create a group bibliography or anything like that. I want to have access to their libraries to make sure they are creating their bibliographies. Any help would be appreciated!

adamsmith

There's no way for your students to share their personal library ("My Library") with a specific account (yours). I see three options, in the order in which I'd recommend them:
1. Every student creates a private group and their library in that group and invites you to join that group. That does involve group libraries, which you say you don't want, but it's the cleanest solution to what you want to do.
2. Students create personal libraries but set them to public. That's quite easy, but that means everyone, not just you, can see them which may be problematic for classwork (this is mainly a theoretical chance -- I don't think anyone combs through random public Zotero libraries)
3. Students give you their log-in information and you log in with that & look at their library through the web interface. That's pretty easy, but as a matter of establishing good IT security practices, I'd discourage account sharing like this.

kkaatz

Thanks for these helpful tips! I'll have to think about it. My other thought was to have the students take screenshot videos of their libraries and walk me through them. That sounds like a big hassle though!

dstillman

It'd be a little clumsy, but depending on what exactly you're trying to verify, another option would just be to have them submit exports of their libraries as Zotero RDF with "Export Files" unchecked. You'd take the .rdf files and import them into a separate profile and data directory that you used for this purpose, using the option to create a new collection for the import, and review each student's library that way.

You could obviously also just have them submit Zotero-generated bibliographies, if collections, tags, and notes weren't important.

bwiernik

If collections, tags, and notes are important, then having them submit Zotero Reports is also an option.

kkaatz

Hi there, I am having lots and lots of issues with being able to access student libraries. I had them change their library to public, then have written down their real name in the zotero profile, I have had them sync up their account. Most of them aren't quite following the directions but some are and their libraries are not showing up. I wonder if there are issues with the People search today (Feb. 1, 2021) because now I can't even find my own library when I search.
Any advice? My students are getting frustrated and I need to think of an alternative (like screenshots of their library--which I really don't want to deal with!).
Take care,
Kevin

fcheslack

Your profile is showing up in search for me. Quotes might be helpful "Kevin Kaatz"

You can also just ask them for a link to their profile, or directly to their web library if it's public.

adamsmith

Is there any reason you need to search for these libraries?
Why couldn't they just email (or otherwise message) you a link as part of their assignment? (If anything, requiring real names on public libraries for an assignments seems not ideal to me from a privacy (and if in the US, FERPA) perspective.)

kkaatz

Hi Fcheslack--thanks for checking! For some reason I couldn't find many of the libraries that I could see before, even using the quotes. I didn't realize I could ask the to give me the direct link their library. Thanks!

kkaatz

Hi Adamsmith--I am teaching a history lab that is focused on creating a Zotero library to use in their other courses. I need to see if they are actually doing their required assignments. I would rather not get 20 emails every week with a link but I just learned that they can send me the direct URL to their library, so that will save a bit of hassle. About privacy--it is unlikely that someone would be able to search for my specific students. Of course, it is possible, but very unlikely. I told them that when the class is over they should put their library back to private.