Category: In English

Posted on

Collect articles and handle references with a reference manager

**Detta blogginlägg finns också på svenska**

Linköping University Library offers introductions to EndNote and Zotero. These reference management programs serve the same purpose and have similar functions, but are different in design and layout. A reference manager simplifies the process with collecting documents and inserting them as references in word processor documents.

When using a reference manager, there is no need to make lists of documents found in databases and you won’t have to enter references to these documents manually in your texts. This saves time and simplifies the information seeking process.

To clarify, it is not primarily the documents themselves that are collected in a reference manager, but metadata, which is information about documents (such as title, author, publisher, year of publication etc.). A document in this context can be everything from a book and a scholarly article to a working paper, a conference paper, a book chapter, or a newspaper article.

Zotero versus EndNote

The Zotero software can be downloaded for free at the Zotero website. There, you can also download Zotero Collector, a tool for quick and easy download of documents from databases and websites. Zotero Collector is a plugin which is installed in your browser.

This feature is one of the advantages with Zotero compared to EndNote. The latter software has a similar plugin, but this will only help you find PDFs that are possible to download. If you use EndNote, you need to locate the metadata file connected to each document yourself. These are so called RIS files that can typically be found under “Export” or “Cite” in databases.

In contrast to Zotero, EndNote is a subscription-based software, but available at no cost for LiU students and staff via MinIT. A disadvantage with EndNote is that if you want to continue to use it after leaving LiU, you need to pay for a subscription yourself.

More functions

When it comes to additional functions, both EndNote and Zotero offer options to adapt and edit a wide range of reference styles, including the possibility to custom your own style. In both reference managers, you can share your document library with others, allowing group work and collaboration.

Both allow using cloud services, i.e. saving online documents and syncing them with files in your document library in the downloaded (desktop) version of the reference management program. Zotero can be used with Google Docs, which is not the case with EndNote.

A disadvantage with Zotero is that the freely available version has a limited storage capacity of 300 MB. But if there is no need to collect PDFs in Zotero, this will not be a problem. An alternative is to store your PDFs on your own computer or in a cloud service available to you.

Which one should I choose?

In your choice of reference manager, you need to consider the practical functions of the program, your options regarding access, and if it is necessary for you to use the same program as your collaborators. The academic writing process can be tricky and difficult to navigate, but with a reference manager it will be somewhat easier.

More information about EndNote, Zotero, and reference management:
Citation technique and styles

By: Niklas Ferdinand Carlsson, librarian, Campus Norrköping Library

Translated by: Peter Igelström

Posted on

New library e-books

**Detta blogginlägg finns även på svenska**

Linköping University Library purchase and subscribe to e-books from various publishers. All library e-books can be searched in the search service UniSearch. The great majority of them are in English and if a book is required reading at a course at LiU, the Library will acquire an e-book version whenever possible.

If you wish us to buy a book that is not part of the library collection, you are welcome to submit a purchase suggestion via the Request book form at Interlibrary loans and purchase suggestions.

If you have any questions about e-books or other library media, get in touch with us via email biblioteket@liu.se, or our live chat at the Library web.

Some examples of newly acquired e-books:

By: Maria Svenningsson, Valla Library

Posted on

News about library publishing agreements

**Detta blogginlägg på svenska**

Linköping University Library has agreements with publishers that give LiU authors a discount on publishing charges when publishing in a number of Open Access journals. For 2022, the Library has signed three new publishing agreements. There have also been modifications in some existing agreements.

The new agreements are with Association for Computer Machinery (ACM), Nature journals, and, from the 1st of February, Public Library of Science (PLoS).

The existing agreements with Taylor & Francis and Oxford University Press have been expanded to include pure Open Access journals (previously, these agreements covered only hybrid journals). The agreements with American institute of Physics (AIP) and Springer now include bigger publishing catalogues than previously. The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) agreement now also includes the pure OA journal RSC Advances.

Collected information about existing agreements is available at Library publishing agreements.

Person som läser en elektronisk tidskrift

Publishing agreements usually cover a selection of journals from each publisher. Use the search service SciFree to search specific journals to see if they are covered by an agreement. The SciFree search box can be found at the page linked above.

Some agreements cover the whole article processing charge (APC), others give authors a discount. In the latter case, the corresponding author pays the remaining amount.

Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about library publishing agreements. The Library’s Open Access team can be reached at: biblioteket@liu.se.

Posted on

Use the extended opening hours Meröppet to spread out the visits to the library.

What do Norrköping students think of Meröppet, the extended opening hours?

**This post is also available in Swedish**

Wednesday 8 December at 9.30 pm

We visit Campus Norrköping library to see how the new, extended openings hours called Meröppet in Swedish are working out. Meröppet was introduced on November 8th without much ado and now about a month later we want to find out what students, and possibly LiU employees think.

Visiting figures show that about 1100 persons have visited the library in the course of the extended, un-staffed openings hours during evening time. About 130 persons  have been early risers and visited the library between 7 and 8 in the morning, before regular hours.

On this late Wednesday evening, we first meet John and Isak who are just about to leave for the night. John has spent the whole day, since 9 am, in the library and he is a big fan of Meröppet which makes it possible to stay on and study and also to arrange meetings with his fellow students in the environmental science programme. Both John and Isak mean the library is a natural center for their course as they use  a lot of literature. Right now they are preparing for examinations. två studenter

-It’s a lot more comfortable to sit here among the books in a quiet, peaceful atmosphere than to book a impersonal, anonymous group study room in Kopparhammaren. This library is very good for studying and it is nice with the different areas where we can sit.

How did you find out about Meröppet?

–We saw a poster and then asked library staff who explained. The first evening we were here the security guard was also very helpful and friendly and explained how it all worked.

Up stairs  in the library, at one of the individual study tables, we find Teodor who is studying construction engineering.

-I got a tip from the library staff about Meröppet and found more information on the web site . Since than I have been here several times during the last two weeks and stayed about two hours each time to prepare for an exam.

Wednesday 15 December at 7.45 pm

One week later, during the week long charity event Musikhjälpen, we visit again to find that all the activities around Musikhjälpen not necessarily competes with the chance to put in some extra hours on one’s course work. Some ten students are still here and we get to chat with four cheerful “decentralized med school students”, as they present themselves, who all live in Norrköping.

–To sit here is the best, says Mattias Saliba and John Youssef, Gihan Lafta and Ali Mohsen instantly agree. Nice to be able to stay on late, before we had to move to other places in Kåkenhus, which are OK  but not as study friendly. Here you can sit among books and that creates a good atmosphere which spreads tranquility. 

How did you find out about Meröppet?

-We read a news letter from the medical faculty and since then we have been here many times. 

Close by sits Vivi Malki, who studies industrial engineering and management on Campus Valla, Linköping, but lives in Norrköping.

–I was told by friends who study here in Norrköping that you have long opening hours and that it is so nice and peaceful to work here. Now I have been here every night the passed weeks, she says.

In the arm chairs by the terrace exit we find Noreen Hassan and Kelly Usabimana, students of nursing and foundation year in science respectively.

-We saw the posters, and now we have been here several times to study for our January exams. It is very useful to be able to do it this way.

On these two visits we did not identify anyone we recognize as staff or faculty but Meröppet is open for anyone with a LiU card who wants to pick up literature, study or print articles and pieces of work.

Meröppet has also been introduced at the Medical library, Campus US, Linköping.

Read more about the arrangements here.

Written by Britt Omstedt, librarian  Campus Norrköping library
Posted on

Self-service opening hours at the library

**Detta blogginlägg finns också på svenska**

The library now offers self-service opening hours, Meröppet in Swedish, to LiU students and faculty/staff. This means the libraries at Campus Norrköping and Campus US will be open to LiU students and faculty/staff outside of ordinary openings hours even when the library is un-staffed. Special arrangements for access apply on the Medical library, see under rules below.

To enter the library, visitors must swipe their LiU card and use their pin code at the reader just outside the library entrance. This service applies only to members of the LiU community, the entry is individual, no unauthorized persons should be let in. Campus security guards will do regular rounds and check ID:s. Special arrangements for access apply on the Medical library, see under rules below.

The self-service hours are available at: Library self-service hours

Rules during self-service hours

Of course, all regular library rules apply during self-service hours, with some additions:

  • Visitors use their own LiU-card to enter.
  • You may not let anyone else in.
  • Use the machines to check out and return books.
  • The zoning for noise levels must be observed, as well as the general library rules, which are displayed by the check-out machine.
  • Printing, scanning, and copying service is available.
  • Digimaker and the terrace cannot not be used.
  • Group study rooms are free to use but cannot be booked.
  • To  get entry to the Medical Library during self-service hours you must be a student at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Campus US or registered for a course given there. As employee you must have your work place at Campus US.

What if there is a problem?

When the check-out machine is out of order or loan is denied, books must not be taken out of the library. Leave the book in the library and contact the staff during regular opening hours.

When the book return machine is out of order, books shall be returned in the book drop outside the library. 

Security and safety

Campus security guards can be reached on tel: 013 –  28 58 88

In an emergency like fire, accident or threat contact 112

Written by  Britt Omstedt, Librarian, Campus Norrköping library