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In 2016, the Research Support team in Library & Learning Services launched a review of reference management provision at the University of Northampton. At the outset of the project, the University subscribed to the Refworks service, providing all staff and students with a Refworks account for online reference management, and citation management via the Write-N-Cite tool.
Recent years have seen considerable developments in this field, with new services such as Mendeley and RefMe offering a modern feature set, alongside improvements to more established services such as EndNote. An announcement that Refworks would moving to a new platform in 2016 presented an ideal opportunity to review University provision of reference management software, to ensure that staff and students are provided with suitable tools and support.
The review comprises three strands of research:
- A review of current software and service options for reference and citation management, resulting in a matrix of key features, undertaken by the Research Information Specialist.
- A review of undergraduate requirements and experiences in the field of research management, undertaken by an undergraduate researcher recruited as part of the URB@N scheme.
- A similar review of staff and postgraduate requirements and experiences, undertaken by a PhD researcher from the University.
The goal of the project is to map the findings of the staff and student research to the matrix of features, make a research-driven recommendation for future reference management provision at the University, and plan and implement any resulting migration and awareness strategies.
This presentation will cover the history and goals of the project and discuss findings at the time of the conference, along with reflection on the process of working with a mixed team of undergraduate, postgraduate and staff researchers.