Article: Network News

The dedicated version of Reference Manager for use across a network now has all the acclaimed features of the personal version - and additional ones too. STEPHANIE MARSHALL reports.

Many of the enhancements featured in the new version 10 of Reference Manager, the world’s most widely-respected bibliographic software, really come into their own in the special “Network Version” of the application. Ideal for departmental use and collaborative working, Reference Manager Network Version now offers the same dynamic features as the single user version, as well as two powerful new research tools.

The first of these enables users of OmniViz Pro software to access it directly through the Reference Manager interface. OmniViz Pro, the only available data visualisation program that can analyse both textual and numeric information in the same framework, provides users with a visual interpretation of their reference data, allowing for easy recognition of relevant trends and patterns within this data.

In addition, implementation of the OpenURL standard in Reference Manager means that if a site has installed a Link Server such as the SFX server, then from each reference, users will have access to related, virtual links that allow them to navigate between independently supported online databases. This technology of linking databases to each other at the document level enables Reference Manager to become a powerful linking system.

Reference Manager 10 has seen the introduction of an enhanced ‘Cite While You Write’ feature which offers greater efficiency in writing and research. The software now instantly formats a finished bibliography as users cite references in the document. It has also made sharing documents for collaborative writing easier than ever with the new travelling library. Documents contain complete reference data for all citations. Wherever the document goes, the references travel with it ready for colleagues to add, delete and reformat citations in the same document.

Reference Manager 10 Network Version now has four dedicated fields in each reference for storing links to full-text documents, PDF files, image files and more. The linked information can be stored on the internet or on any accessible hard drive or network server for quick retrieval and review. Additional improvements include over 150 new content files, including output styles, import filters and connection files, making it easier to connect to and import data from a wide variety of online sources.

• Omniviz: http://www.omniviz.com/
• SFX: http://www.sfxit.com/