One real absence I see so far is the ability to add info to bib entries you already have in the software. For instance, connecting to an academic library pulls the best and largest amount of bib info into the entry. It's not ideal, since you still have to do alot of manual input. For instance, and editor of a compiled volume is invariably listed in the author category. But, libraries of course don't have the nifty cover jacket picture that Amazon does, so, I'd like to do a second search at Amazon and
I do wish I could use Delicious Library or
Booxter to enter books, as I
discussed here, but let's face it... the books I'm using don't have bar codes to scan. They're either too old or don't have the dust jacket still.
And on the subject of bib entry:
I don't suppose this qualifies as submitting a feature request, since Jon from Sonny Software made a comment on the Mac Biblioblog a few months ago that he doesn't read this blog.
Is it possible to start a campaign to put the year published on the title page? The title page has everything else In need to look at when doing bib work, and it seems to me that eliminating the need to turn the page would increase my productivity by 50% (though too often I do also go looking for the LCN.
All things Macintosh for biblical scholarship and ministry. Providing news, help, and discussion for bible scholars and ministers using Macintosh technologies as a tool for doing their work.
July 13, 2005
Trying Out Bookends
I'm doing some bib work right now, and have decided to give Bookends a try before upgrading my Endnote. We'll see if it satisfies. Right now I'm using the ever-helpful connection to other libraries, Amazon, Library of Congress, etc. feature to easy entry of info.
Does it have SBL style or any other common biblical style sheets? If so, how's it working?
ReplyDeleteI've been using Bookends since January and have come to like it very much. In the beginning I took the trouble to build an SBL formatting style myself.
ReplyDeleteOne of the features that has been added since my first version (7.5.5 -- It is now up to 8.1) is especially brilliant for biblio-types: an SBL journal library is included! This means that I can type, for example, "JSOT" into the Journal field and it will automatically be modified to "Journal for the Study of the Old Testament." Furthermore, Bookends keeps both forms of the title, so that the abbreviated title can be used in footnotes, and the full title in a bibliography.
Another perk for those using SBL format: Bookends supports different formats for first and subsequent footnotes, and also allows you to enter shortened titles with each entry.
Finally, the interfacing with Mellel (another new bit of software that I'm coming to love) is simply brilliant.
No, I don't read this blog, but sometimes folks point me to it and I take a look.
ReplyDeleteBookends already has the feature you want -- do a second Internet Search on Amazon, drag and drop the picture onto the open reference window, name it, and Bookends will transfer it to your attachments folder and attach it to the reference.
Jon
Sonny Software
Jon, thanks for checking in.
ReplyDeleteOf course you can do an entirely new search and drag&drop info into a current entry. The desire which I inadequately expressed was to not have to enter a whole new search process, but to key it off of a field from a current entry.
I want to be able to select an entry and say "Go find this title in Amazon or Duke Library", and then have the option of merging (this could be done with a custom import setup specifying which field, such as the picture), or at least then doing the drag and drop without the extra steps of creating an indvidual search.
The reason behind all this is, as I said, some databases have some fields correct, and different ones have other ones correct. I need Title, Author, Location, Year from here, but I need picture, ISBN from here, etc.
Though, I guess I'm relying on this someone to point you to this comment or you'll not see it either.