Understanding user needs for citation management program support

Abstract

Citation management programs are tools used to organize references and to create citations and bibliographies. Libraries are often the central point for providing training and support in using these tools. To determine how we could improve our support and training services, we surveyed users to determine what software in being used, why they chose that particular program, what features are important, and how they use citation management programs to collaborate. Results indicate that users chose a particular program because it was freely available or recommended to them by others and that they thought that importing references and creating citations were important features. We also found a majority of respondents used citation management programs to collaborate and turned to the library for training and support.

Keywords:

• Citation management
• user surveys

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Teresa U. Berry

Teresa U. Berry is an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Steven D. Milewski

Steven D. Milewski is an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Manda C. Sexton

Manda C. Sexton is a Library Assistant Professor at Kennesaw State University.

Allison L. Sharp

Allison L. Sharp is an Associate Professor at the University of Tennesee, Knoxville.

Jeanine M. Williamson

Jeanine M. Williamson is a Professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.