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Zotero at University of Waterloo: Collaboration

This guide will help you use the free online citation and research management tool Zotero to organize citations from Library catalogs and databases.

Zotero Groups

Zotero groups allow you to share and collaborate with others in private or public groups you can create. You can also join an existing public Zotero group by searching for it, or be invited to a group by its owner.

  Private Groups Public, Closed Membership Public, Open Membership
Zotero group visible to anyone N Y Y
Zotero group findable in group searches N Y Y
Zotero group shown on member's profile pages N Y Y
Membership by invitation only Y Y N
Members can share references Y Y Y
Members can share files Y (if enabled) Y (if enabled) N
Administrator can hide library from non-members Y Y Y

Syncing Zotero Groups

Enable Data Syncing and your group library will appear in the Zotero client in the left column. Personal and group libraries are completely separate, although items can be copied between libraries by dragging them back and forth. Any items dragged into groups are separate copies, so if you make changes to an item in a group library, those changes will not be reflected in the copy of the item in My Library (unless you drag the item back into My Library.)

 

 

 

 

Create a Group

1. Login to your Zotero account in the web browser of your choice.

2. Go to the page to create a new group.

3. Choose a name for your group, and choose the type of group .

4. Set and save your Group Settings and Library Settings.

5. Under Members Settings you can designate roles for members and invite new members. You can send the invitations using email addresses or Zotero usernames. 

Member roles are:

  • Group owner: can change group public/private status, control access by members, change group settings, and delete/transfer ownership of a group.
  • Administrator: change group public/private status, control access by members, and change group settings.
  • Member: edit group library according to access level determined by administrator or group owner.