Mendeley: teaching scholarly communication and collaboration through social networking
| Published date | 19 October 2012 |
| Date | 19 October 2012 |
| Pages | 561-569 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01435121211279902 |
| Author | Don MacMillan |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Mendeley: teaching scholarly
communication and collaboration
through social networking
Don MacMillan
Libraries and Cultural Resources, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to highlight the productivity and collaborative features of Mendeley, a
reference management tool, as well as recommendations on how Mendeley can be incorporated into an
information literacy program.
Design/methodology/approach – Results from a literature review and feedback from students and
faculty were used to provide background for this paper. Mendeley’s features and potential benefits to
librarians and researchers are discussed.
Findings – Feedback from students and faculty who use Mendeley are very positive owing to its
productivity and social networking and collaboration features. The literature highlights Mendeley’s
usefulness in the context of citation management software.
Practical implications – The paper provides useful tips and best practices for integrating
Mendeley into information literacy sessions and workshops for students and faculty. The paper also
discusses how teaching Mendeley can facilitate scholarly communication between researchers and
broaden the role of librarians on campus.
Originality/value – The paper shows that Mendeley enables higher level information literacy by
helping users focus on locating and organizing information and spend less time on citation details.
Mendeley’s social networking features are compatible with emerging work practices, facilitating
collaboration among researchers through group’s functions and open sharing of information through
groups and publication lists.
Keywords Data management,Citation software, Scholarlycommunication, Information literacy,
Social media, Software tools, Communication technologies,Academic libraries
Paper type General review
Introduction
Teaching researchers and students to use Mendeley opens their eyes to a world of
possibilities. Users are quick to see the benefits of a tool that helps them manage the
information overload characteristic of today’s digital information environment,
connect with other researchers, and make their workflow more efficient. The integrated
set of tools that Mendeley provides brings together aspects of transparency from the
open access movement, collaboration from Web 2.0 initiatives and resource discovery
that integrates expert human filters with deep databases of content. And it does all this
in a way that conserves the researcher’s most precious resource, time, by reducing the
inefficiencies of citation management and organizing or their information workflow. In
fact, Mendeley enables the higher-level information literacy (IL) skills students and
researchers need to succeed, and therefore has earned a place in IL instruction.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-5124.htm
Mendeley:
scholarly
communication
561
Received 5 July 2012
Accepted 11 July 2012
Library Management
Vol. 33 No. 8/9, 2012
pp. 561-569
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0143-5124
DOI 10.1108/01435121211279902
To continue reading
Request your trial