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We are excited to announce two major releases. This morning the Zotero team launched both Zotero 1.5 and the first release of Zotero’s web application. Watch the screencast below for details on 1.5 and see the list below for a brief list of Zotero’s new features.

Zotero 1.5 Features



• Automatic synchronization of collections across multiple computers. For example, sync your PC at work with your Mac laptop and your Linux desktop at home.


• Free automatic backup of your library data at Zotero.org.


• Automatic synchronization of your attachment files to a server of your choice (e.g. iDisk, Jungle Disk, or university-provided web storage).


• Recover recently deleted items with Zotero’s trash can.


• Rich-text notes
  


• New style manager allowing you to add and delete CSLs and legacy style formats


• Automatic detection of PDF metadata (author, title, etc.)


• Automatic detection and support for proxy servers



New Website Features



• Browse through your library online.


• New user profiles tied to Zotero accounts.


• Preliminary support for following other Zotero users: In the future this will generate a twitter-like feed of users public research activity.


• WYSIWYG CV creator, with the ability to dynamically generate all or part of your CV from Zotero collections.


• Search for friends, colleagues, and other users by institutional affiliation, username, email address, or field of interest.

Zotero just became an even more useful platform for research management. We are excited to announce Zotero’s first data mining plugin. The initial launch of SEASR Analytics for Zotero allows users to use SEASR’s author centrality analysis, author degree distribution analysis, and author hit analysis on items in their collections. These three functions are just the beginning, but they already demonstrate the potential for leveraging SEASR’s data mining capabilities inside Zotero. Download the plugin today, and give it a try.

The Zotero team is making solid progress on a variety of collaborative features. But, if you want to publish and share items today, you might be interested in Zotz. The Zotz plugin allows you to publish Zotero collections through MIT’s Citeline project. If you want to see this feature in action, just watch this screencast.

There is still time to apply for the first Zotero training workshop. Applications for Zotero workshop are due December 19, one week from today. See the full workshop announcement below.

In an effort to better equip university librarians and IT staff to implement, train, and support Zotero, we will be offering two-day workshops at locations across the US. Through these workshops, participants will acquire a solid understanding of Zotero’s capabilities and how those capabilities can best meet their users’ needs.

The pilot workshop will be held February 19-20, 2009 at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, just outside Washington DC. The cost to attend the workshop is $350 and, due to the hands-on nature of these workshops, enrollment is limited. The Zotero team will be accepting applications through December 19, 2008 and applications will be considered on the following criteria:

1. Your current or future role in representing Zotero on your campus

2. Your institution’s plans for, or interest in, adopting Zotero

3. Maximum representation of different campuses: we will most likely only accept one or two individuals from any single institution and are seeking representation from a range of schools.

Application details and forms are located here, and applicants will receive confirmation of their acceptance by January 9, 2009.

Applicants not accepted to the pilot workshop will be welcome to apply to the next one, planned for early summer 2009 at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia (workshops in 2010 are planned for the Midwest and West Coast). More information regarding this and later 2009 workshops will be released as available.