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Zotero

Things to watch out for when using Zotero

Citation Problems

Citation exports are not always accurate.

  • In a couple of test cases, book authors were imported as "contributors" instead of "authors," so did not show up in the bibliography that was created.  It's easiest to manage this by always checking the information when it is imported.
  • Capitalization does not always auto-format correctly.  You will need to check this.

Privacy Issue

The browser plug-in does not offer a way to log out. This is a problem if you use a shared computer and don't want people to be able to access your log-in information and/or see what you have added to your libraries. The plug-in is really handy when used on your own personal computer, but I do not recommend syncing the browser plug-in with your account on any shared computer in a computer lab or a laptop checked out from the library.

Other Problems

There are some known issues with some databases.  See list of known problems from Zotero.