mobo@sphinx.UUCP (11/13/87)
This is a summary of the responses to my request for programs to manage bibliographic citations. It's fairly long (4 pp.), but here are the main points: around 20 products that do "this sort of thing" (see original posting below) were mentioned in the replies I received. The popular favorite is called Pro-Cite, by Professional Bibliographic Systems (Ann Arbor, MI, 412 Longshore Ave, (313) 996-1580). REF-11 was mentioned most thereafter. Several others packages had one or two champions. Carolyn Kotlas (kotlas@ecsvax.UUCP or kotlas@ecsvax.BITNET) had done a very comprehensive (50 pp) survey of 28 products in this market early in 1987. Her study was extremely useful in this search. The following messages are representative of the responses I received. If I can add anything to what follows, please send me a message. Samuel Wilson Dept of Anthropology University of Chicago ...ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!mobo >>>>>>>> Here is the original posting: ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!mobo I have not heard this request on the net for quite a while, and it's one which may benefit just about all of us using computers in academics. Are there any good bibliography programs available? What I have in mind is a database manager into which you can enter bibliographic information (Author, Date, Title, Publisher...) and then be able to (1) select a bunch of references for a given paper, and (2) have the references printed on a printer or to disk in a predetermined format (i.e. in the styles of a variety of journals)? Of course I would like the things spit out alphabetically, by date, and all of that. I'll post a summary to the net. Samuel Wilson >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From ecsvax!kotlas@mcnc.org Tue Nov 3 07:31:45 1987 You might want to check out Pro-Cite which is one of the preferred tools of librarians who organize bibliographic documents. Carolyn Kotlas (kotlas@ecsvax.UUCP or kotlas@ecsvax.BITNET) >>>>>>>>>>>> From moku@sphinx.uchicago.edu (5.52/1.0Sx) There is this thing called Professional Bibliographic System for the Mac. I've never really done anything serious in it, but I do know it's supposed to be able to deal with multiple formats. Don't know about flexibility in selecting subsets of a global list, or in print/print to disk/print-in-pig-latin options. I thought there was a version of PBS for the non-Mac. No? >>>>>>>>>>>>> From rupley!local@arizona.edu Sat Nov 7 11:47:02 1987 This response assumes, because you posted on the net, that you have access to a Unix system (I have heard about some flexible bib managers for ms-dos but did not pay proper attention). Generally refer and its colleagues are included in a BSD release, and this is the old Lesk/at&t system. A somewhat more elegant version of refer, called bib (with invert and lookup), was written by a member of the computer science dept at Arizona. This code is in the public domain. It ports easily to sys5,in case Chicago is not running BSD or you have a microport or sco system on an AT. You do need the ms macros, which should be no problem in a university environment. If you want the source code, I am sure the system administrator at megaron.arizona.edu will bundle it for you or set it up for ftp, or failing that, I will do it. John Rupley uucp: ..{ihnp4 | hao!noao}!arizona!rupley!local >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From pgil@sphinx.uchicago.edu (5.52/1.0Sx) We here at the Ben May Institute are currently running a program called REF-11 It was written for the pdp-11 series of computers and is quite a powerful program capable of carrying out all of the duties you required in your request. It has a pretty fast search and retrieve time, will allow input of author-list, title keywords, comments even an abstract. It is capable of accessing online bibliography databases and downloading references in a form suitable for storage in its own database. It is capable of output in any format desired: particular journal styles (including accecptable journal title abbreviations) are stored as format files and called at will. It IS available for the PC and the developer used our pdp-11 to write the program. If you wish, I will hunt up any documentation we have and refer your query to the Author of the program. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From gsin@tut.cc.rochester.edu Tue Nov 3 14:19:49 1987 Sam, There are quite a few programs on the market. Artfile (Framback Software Systems) ,Bibliofile (Martz Software Power Tools), Bibliog2 (Micro-Dynamics of Texas), Notebook II (Pro/Tem Software), ProCite + BiblioLink (personal Bibliographic Software), Sci-Mate (Institute for Scientific Information), and Sire (Citadel Software). These may all do the trick for you. I have worked alittle bit with Procite, Sire, and Notebook II. Procite is probably the best. However I would advise you to try it before buying it. It has the different types of Bib. entries you will probably need built in and has the ability to add more (only 2). I can get you more info if you need it. If you want any of the addresses of the companies listed above you need only ask. Sean Singh University of Rochester Computing Centre ps I am not affiliated with blah blah blah......... >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From forags@violet.berkeley.edu Tue Nov 3 17:51:51 1987 Several of our faculty use REF-11 and like it. I think it has all the features you mentioned. REF-11 is frequently advertised in Science. I think it costs about $250. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From ihnp4!likewise!uunet!umix!pepe.cc.umich.edu!emv@gargoyle.uucp Wed I can recommend one program to avoid at all costs for bibliography stuff, and that's REF-11. Horrible user interface, copy protected, buggy, easy to crash, inflexible, yeech. I'll send more gory details if you'd like but I'll spare you for now. A good bibliography program that's used a lot here at the U of Michigan is Pro-Cite, from Personal Bibliographic Software Inc. (Ann Arbor, MI, 412 Longshore Ave, (313) 996-1580 ) It handles most any journal format you care to name, all customizable, and it can even do things like TeX your references for you. There's also extra-cost Biblio-links which will dial up bibliographic databases, run searches for you, and dump the results all set up into your database. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> that's the lot... keep me posted if I've missed any. Sam.