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Using Zotero for generating location-specific and repository-specific bibliographies
I have recently started using Zotero to keep a list of frequently used genealogical sources. I'd like to be able to generate bibliographies categorized either by locality (e.g. a county) or by repository (Family History Library, Allen County Public Library, etc.) or both. I'd like to consider websites as repositories for this purpose. I am debating with myself on the best way of organizing these Zotero entries, by tags, folders, or both. What I want to be able to do is generate a bibliography of sources, categorized by locality, to check when I visit a specific library or archive or website. I also want to be able to generate a bibliography (sorted by repository would be great) for a specific locality to add to a research plan. Ideas and recommendations welcome.
Hi, eallynm, and welcome to Zotero and the forum. I think tags and folders can work equally well to categorize your sources by location. In either case, you can assign multiple locations to a single source, if a source if found in multiple places. I use folders, rather than tags, but not for any specific reason.
To create the bibliography quickly, you can bring up your set of records for a location--whether in a folder or tagged--and select them all. Right-click, and choose "Create bibliography from items." Select your preferred bibliographic style, choose the Bibliography output format, and select "Copy to Clipboard." You can then paste that location's references into your document.
Let us know if that works for you....
I now wonder if there's a way to add the repository-specific location, usally a call number. If I put the entries into repository folders and tag them by locality, then I'd be able to add the correct call number for the source for that repository. Would that work?
If you have your laptop with you or can use a computer in the archive, anything you've gathered in Zotero can be pulled up for use. If you want to print out a bibliography, there are some considerations about how you set things up. Zotero has a Call Number field on book records, for example, but bibliographic styles like the Chicago Manual of Style do not pick up a call number in a bibliography. Many other types of references in CMOS do capture the Location in Archive field in the bibliographic reference. That would be the more useful field in which to capture what you're talking about, if you want to carry a printed bibliography with you.
If you have a copy of Zotero for Genealogy and have pulled the sample data into Zotero, you'll see a collection called "Zotero Bibliographic Formats." In that, I filled in every field of every item type. You can create a bibliographic reference to those fields, and it will show you which fields actually get picked up. I've selected all of them and will paste them in CMOS style here, for you to see what fields are picked up in each:
authorlastname, authorfirstname. “Book Section Title.” In Book Title, by bookauthorfirst bookauthorlast, pages, Edition. Series Name, series-number. place: publisher, 2011. https://sampleurl/.
contrlast, contrfirst. hearing title, Pub. L. No. document-number, § committee, pages (2011). https://sampleurl/.
lastname, firstname. Artwork Title. January 1, 2011. Medium, artwork-size. Location-in-archive. archive. https://sampleurl/.
———. bill title, Pub. L. No. bill-number, § section-number, code-volume code code (2011). https://sampleurl/.
———. “Blog Article Title.” Website-type. Blog Name (blog), January 1, 2011. https://sampleurl/.
———. Book Title. Edition. Vol. volume-current. number-of-volumes vols. Series Name, series-number. place: publisher, 2011. https://sampleurl/.
———. case name, reporter-volume reporter first-page (court 2011).
———. “Conference Paper Title.” In Proceedings Title, volume-current:pages. Series. place: publisher, 2011. https://doi.org/doi-number.
———. “Dictionary Entry Title.” In Dictionary Title, volume-current:pages. Series Name, series-number. place: publisher, January 1, 2011. Location-in-archive. archive. https://sampleurl/.
———, ed. “Document Title.” publisher, January 1, 2011. Location-in-archive. archive. https://sampleurl/.
———. Letter to firstname lastname2. “Email Subject,” January 1, 2011. https://sampleurl/.
———. “Encyclopedia Article Title.” In Encyclopedia Title, volume-current:pages. Series Name, series-number. place: publisher, January 1, 2011. Location-in-archive. archive. https://sampleurl/.
———. Film Title. Format, Genre. distributor, 2011. https://sampleurl/.
———. “Forum Post Title.” Post-type. Forum-Title, January 1, 2011. https://sampleurl/.
———. Letter to firstname lastname2. “Instant Message,” January 1, 2011. https://sampleurl/.
———. interview title. Interview by lastname2. Medium, January 1, 2011. Location-in-archive. archive. https://sampleurl/.
———. “Journal Article Title.” Publication, series title, voume-current, no. issue (January 1, 2011): pages. https://doi.org/doi-number.
———. Letter-type to firstname lastname2. “Letter Title.” Letter-type, January 1, 2011. Location-in-archive. archive. https://sampleurl/.
———. “Magazine Article Title.” Publication Title, January 1, 2011. Location-in-archive. archive.
———. “Manuscript Title.” Type. place, January 1, 2011. Location-in-archive. archive. https://sampleurl/.
———. “Map Title.” Type, scale. Series Title. place: publisher, January 1, 2011. Location-in-archive. archive. https://sampleurl/.
———. name of act, code-number code § section (2011). https://sampleurl/.
———. “Newspaper Article Title.” Publication Title. January 1, 2011, edition edition, sec. section. Location-in-archive. archive.
———. patent title. issuing-authority patent-number. place, filed filing date, and issued January 1, 2011. https://sampleurl/.
———. “Podcast Title.” File-type. Series Title. Accessed February 2, 1922. https://sampleurl/.
———. “Presentation Title.” Type presented at the meeting-name, place, January 1, 2011. https://sampleurl/.
———. “Radio Broadcast Title.” Format. place: network, January 1, 2011. Location-in-archive. archive. https://sampleurl/.
———. “Report Title.” Report-type. Series Title. place: institution, January 1, 2011. Location-in-archive. archive. https://sampleurl/.
———. statute name of act, Pub. L. No. public-law-number, § section, code-number code-name page (2011). https://sampleurl/.
———. “Thesis Title.” Type, university, 2011. archive (location-in-archive). https://sampleurl/.
———. “Tv Broadcast Title.” Format. Program-Title. place: network, January 1, 2011. Location-in-archive. archive. https://sampleurl/.
———. Video Recording Title. Format. Vol. volume-current. number-of-volumes vols. Series Title. place: studio, 2011. https://sampleurl/.
Thanks!
