On Thu, 18 Mar 2004 15:11:04 -0000, Lesley Crawshaw
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I have some responsibility at my institution for the reference information
>software, EndNote. One of those responsibilities is that I run training
>sessions on the use of EndNote for researchers, academic staff and in some
>cases, undergraduate students.
>
>Whilst most database services and some electronic journals
>services/publishers make it very easy to import bibliographic information
>either directly into EndNote e.g. American Physical Society, IEEE Explore,
>Highwire, IoP Electronic Journals, ScienceDirect, and Synergy or via the
use
>of a filter e.g. ingenta, JSTOR, some electronic journals services do not
>appear to provide this facility at all. Is this because they haven't
>perceived a need for such a facility?
>
>Can anyone advise me if it is possible to import records from Wiley
>InterScience or MetaPress sites into EndNote? If so - how?
>
>I also noticed that whilst Kluwer Online allows the importing of individual
>citations into EndNote or other Reference Information Management software,
>there is no option to include the abstracts or to import a collection of
>marked/selected references into EndNote. In the case of Emerald there
>doesn't appear to be an option to include the abstracts in the information
>downloaded.
>
>Services such as ScienceDirect and Highwire make it very easy for users to
>know that this facility is available when browsing issues or looking at the
>results of a search. If one is using ingenta one can see it's possible to
>download the results as an ASCII file, but the only other information I
>could find about downloading information into EndNote was in the Help: FAQs
>for Librarians - I can't see our users looking there for their answers!!
The
>information there was minimal. It would have been helpful to have a link to
>the filter from those FAQs. Otherwise it's a case of going to the EndNote
>site and figuring out that the filter you need is Uncover. Maybe something
>for the new ingentaconnect.
>
>As RIS software is so important for researchers and the like, it is very
>frustrating for users to see how easy it is to use it with some electronic
>services, but not others. In these cases their only alternative was either
>to cut and paste and then edit the information or to input the relevant
>information by hand.
>
>Anyone else out there had these kind of problems?
>
>Cheers
>Lesley
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Lesley Crawshaw, Faculty Information Consultant,
>Learning and Information Services,
>University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, AL10 9AB UK
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>phone: 01707 284662 fax: 01707 284666
>web: http://www.herts.ac.uk/lis/subjects/natsci/ejournal/
>list owner: [log in to unmask]
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m in a new role supporting social science researchers with database
searches, which I have been collating in EndNote. While we don’t use Wiley
InterScience or MetaPress, I have faced a lot of the issues you mention
when trying to import references from around 30 different databases.
It sounds as if you are familiar with skills such as filter writing and the
more exotic procedure of copying unpromising formats and editing with find
and replace to make each field unique. This is just about time-effective as
a one-off but must be very tedious in your context. The sheer variety of
output formats (or lack of any saveable output) can be overwhelming.

From the other side of the provision issue, my organisation is currently in
the process of redeveloping its principal publicly-available database. I
have advocated the need for particular output formats to suit the
prinicipal reference management software packages. It seems that there are
development cost implications for offering such a service. Perhaps database
right and copyright issues also dissuade providers from making it easy to
put their references into your own library, also the lack of industry
standards could work against us.

By the way, you sound knowledgable about RIS format? I got a specification
from Adept Scientific to offer to our database developers, but I have to
admit that’s the limit of my understanding. What does RIS stand for anyway?

Best wishes,

Janet