Upgrade StorageVery basic need
I live far from most research libraries. I generate bibliographies from the net, often including items which are duplicated at different libraries. I currently combine sub-bibliographies from various sources into a master list, indicating if the item has been consulted and if notes have been taken.
I need a way to cross-reference items by library, and sort them when I'm planning a research trip. Having each item's call number for the various libraries would be a big plus.
I asked the Endnote tech help folks if Endnote would automatically label each item as to which library it belonged, adding new library info to the item as duplication became evident, and they said they couldn't do that.
Example: if I collect references from the Library of Congress, the NY Public Library, the U of California system and the Florida state system, I'd like to be able to have each item identified as to location(s) and call number(s), without having to enter the information myself on each bibliographic entry.
That way, if the Library of Congress happens to own all the items of interest that are at the U of California, a trip to the LoC would suffice. If the item were "not on shelf" at the LoC, I could quickly identify its other locations. When I needed to consult the item again, I'd know all its locations.
(Interlibrary loan through my local public library is extremely limited, and it's more effective for me to make research trips.)
I need a way to cross-reference items by library, and sort them when I'm planning a research trip. Having each item's call number for the various libraries would be a big plus.
I asked the Endnote tech help folks if Endnote would automatically label each item as to which library it belonged, adding new library info to the item as duplication became evident, and they said they couldn't do that.
Example: if I collect references from the Library of Congress, the NY Public Library, the U of California system and the Florida state system, I'd like to be able to have each item identified as to location(s) and call number(s), without having to enter the information myself on each bibliographic entry.
That way, if the Library of Congress happens to own all the items of interest that are at the U of California, a trip to the LoC would suffice. If the item were "not on shelf" at the LoC, I could quickly identify its other locations. When I needed to consult the item again, I'd know all its locations.
(Interlibrary loan through my local public library is extremely limited, and it's more effective for me to make research trips.)
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1) Zotero should already add location and call number info to items when saving from a library with a translator. If it doesn't for a particular catalog, let us know.
2) I think support for multiple locations is planned for the upcoming bibliography ontology that Zotero will likely be implementing.
3) Duplicate detection is planned for Zotero 1.5. This would likely include the ability to merge library info, assuming there was support for multiple locations in the data schema.
4) We're planning to extend the Locate button in the metadata pane into a Locate menu that lets you easily locate items at multiple libraries. So you could configure a set of catalogs to check and quickly find out whether items were available at the library you were planning to visit.
Hope that helps.
We might add some ways in the future that would allow you to more quickly enter the information into Zotero, but unfortunately there's usually no way to do it automatically.
One feature which might offer some help in organizing your library acquisitions is Zotero's collections panel. For what it's worth, I have the following workflow-based collections:
GET
READ
IGNORE (for items whose data I'll keep but which are not interesting anymore. I really only have this so that I can subtract the result set from my collected items for the whole project if I want to generate a working bibliography for the project.)
INCORPORATE (for items which I have read or seen and which I want to interact with at some level)
I then created the following sub-collections under GET
GETLocal University Library
Interlibrary Loan
Faraway Library 1
Faraway Library 2
Faraway Library 3
If I run across something I know I'd like to see, I put it into 'GET.' When I have the time, I run through those and see where I can get them (online, the local library, ILL, or distant libraries to which I'm planning a visit). If I can't get it locally, I (manually) check to see if it is in any library which I hope to visit in the time the item will be relevant to me, and add it to that library's folder. If I don't know which of my libraries I might visit next, I can add the item to as many collections as I want. I then erase the item from the top-level GET folder, which serves as a kind of in-bin.
This way I always have access to two things: (1) a list of books I know to be at any of the libraries I will visit, and (2) a comprehensive 'to-get' list, which is a saved search of everything in any subfolder of GET. (Note that currently this scheme forces me to manually remove the item from any subfolders of the GET list when I actually get it. Not to hard with the CTRL key and DELETE, but another manual step nonetheless).
Not that you can't order collections manually, so the actual names in Zotero have prefixes:
1_GET1_Lib 1
2_Lib 2
3_Lib 3
2_READ
Of course, this does not address the problem of storing call numbers. You could always add them to a note, if you want to keep them. (From Dan's comment it sounds like it would all be a manual job anyway for the foreseeable future). For me the real problem that needed solving was not storing the call numbers for libraries I might visit, but just keeping track of everything sitting on my acquisitions list, and not loosing the knowledge that item X is in Library Y (and Z). Given the expense and time of a long-distance library, trip, it's no great hardship to spend my first 20 minutes looking up 30 or 40 items at the local computer catalog when I first arrive. I have already sorted them and I know they're in the collection. It's just a matter of writing call numbers out on my printout. (If I care about particular items actually being on the shelf, I have to check that catalog before I make the trip anyway.)
I did only set up this structure recently, so I haven't worked out the kinks yet, but it seems like it might help at least with some of the the workflow-related issues of 'the wilderness researcher.' Cheers.