Collection-specific item fields

janbaykara · July 10, 2017

I want to use Zotero collections to mirror reading lists for my classes, but I've found it hard to order the readings arbitrarily.

I can use the Extra field in some cases, but when multiple courses all refer to the same text, Extra becomes useless.

Is it possible to create collection-specific item fields (if necessary, I'm happy to code a plugin), or else otherwise arbitrarily order items in a collection?

adamsmith · July 10, 2017

nothing reasonably easy, no. Since custom fields aren't currently possible, a plugin would be rather complex (i.e. it'd need to store the field info somewhere else, retrieve that and the sort by it...).

A typical structure would be to have every week of reading in a subcollection -- why does that not work? Is the order within a given week important, too?

bwiernik · July 10, 2017

You could do each course as a separate group library, that way each class could have its own copy of the item. This would also facilitate sharing the group with students to distribute readings.

janbaykara · July 10, 2017

The order within a given week is very important, yes! This is the crux of the problem, after inevitably arriving at the per-week collection solution.

bwiernik · July 10, 2017

I think course group libraries might be your best option. Then have either collections or use a Field (like Library Catalog) to denote the week, then Use Extra or Call Number to denote the order within week.