Category: RefWorks

RefWorks: cause of Shibboleth error reported by some customers

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

The RefWorks technical team are aware of a known bug affecting their Shibboleth Service Provider (SP) which can cause authentication failures in one particular scenario.

The issue can arise when a student or staff member accesses RefWorks through a search engine look-up or by typing the domain name directly into their browser address bar, rather than through using library managed links to RefWorks.

This is because the RefWorks Shibboleth service treats differently requests which originate from http://www.refworks.com from those which originate from http://refworks.com

Login requests which begin from http://www.refworks.com will complete successfully, while requests which start from http://refworks.com will not, and will generate authentication failures and error messages.

To avoid the risk of these problems, the recommendation is to use the direct links to RefWorks on the library website, or to ensure that requests to RefWorks include the ‘www’ element in the web address.

The WAYFLess deep-link, which directs the user straight to the NTU Single Sign-on page, and then returns them (once successfully logged-in) to RefWorks is:

https://www.refworks.com/RWShibboleth?providerid=https://shib2idp.ntu.ac.uk/idp/shibboleth

Science Direct: issue affecting direct export to RefWorks – resolved

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

The issue affecting the direct export of references from Science Direct to RefWorks reported on 23 January 2013 has now been resolved. It is again possible to successfully export groups of references through repeated requests during the same RefWorks’ session without the need to login afresh.

Science Direct: issue affecting direct export to RefWorks

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

The RefWorks technical team are working to resolve a problem which is affecting the ‘RefWorks Direct Export’ service from Science Direct (SciVerse).

For the first direct export request from a Science Direct session, a new pop-up windows resolves to the RefWorks login screen. After selecting ‘Nottingham Trent University’ from the drop-down list of institutions and logging in with a university username and password, the export to RefWorks succeeds and the Last Imported folder is populated with the newly imported records.

However, subsequent RefWorks direct export requests attempted during the same session resolve to the logged-in user’s RefWorks account without the newly exported records being imported into RefWorks.

RefWorks do not have, at present, a timeline for the correction of this problem, but are actively working on a fix.

In the meantime, a simple workaround provides a temporary solution to the problem.

  • After the first Science Direct export has completed successfully in RefWorks, select the Log out option in RefWorks to end the current RefWorks session
  • For subsequent export requests from Science Direct in the same session, the browser will then be directed back to the RefWorks login screen
  • Once the user has selected ‘Nottingham Trent University’ from the drop-down list, they should be resolved to RefWorks as a logged-in user (because their Shibboleth session is still active in their browser, they should not be required to log in again) and the export request should complete successfully

A further update will follow once this issue has been satisfactorily resolved and this workaround is no longer necessary.

RefWorks – direct export issue resolved (Science Direct and Wiley Online Library)

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

The RefWorks technical team have resolved an issue which was causing the direct-to-RefWorks export facility in both Science Direct and Wiley Online Library to fail.

Direct export to RefWorks from both of those platforms is now confirmed as working normally once again.

Web of Knowledge – direct export to RefWorks enabled

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

The ability to export references direct to RefWorks has been enabled in all Web of Knowledge services. A new RefWorks button appears in all relevant results screens (see example illustration below, from BIOSIS Previews).

The option to export multiple selected records direct to RefWorks is also now available in the ‘Marked List’ features (see illustration below):

Lexis Library – RefWorks direct export

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

The ability to export references directly to RefWorks has been enabled in Lexis Library. To export references in this way, choose the required references and select the Export Bibliographic References option on the right-hand side of a results screen (see illustration below)

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In the pop-up window which launches click on the Export option (see illustration below).

Following service calls from LLR (and other libraries) the Lexis technical team are investigating refinements to the way that reference fields are mapped between Lexis Library and RefWorks. An update on the reference mapping rules is expected shortly.

RefWorks v2 interface choice

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

A small change has been made by RefWorks to the ability of an individual customer to switch between the current v1 RefWorks interface and the new (beta) v2 interface. As previously documented in the eServices Support wiki guide, an individual staff member or student could choose to switch between the two interfaces, but would always be resolved back to the v1 interface at the start of their next RefWorks session. Now, RefWorks remembers the customers last interface preference. In other words, if you select the v2 interface and logout, the next time that you login you will be returned to the v2 interface. While individual customers can continue to experiment and familiarise themselves with the v2 interface, LLR will not be migrating all NTU RefWorks accounts to the v2 interface until this summer.

Network deployment of new Write-N-Cite plug-in for Word – January 2010

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

The eServices team has worked with colleagues in the Software Deployment team in IS to schedule the deployment of Version 3 of the RefWorks Write-N-Cite plug for Word in January 2010. Deployment will begin in w/b 4 January, and a further update will follow once IS has confirmed that the deployment has been completed on all staff and student PCs.

The key enhancement that v3 of Write-N-Cite delivers is the ability to work with (and incrementally update) a single Word document containing in-text citations and associated bibliography (rather than having to generate separate FINAL versions of each annotated document). As it is possible to continue to amend a document for which formatted citations have been generated, staff and students can view the ‘actual’ references in their work-in-progress documents (rather than the coded RefWorks placeholders).

Because of the underlying changes in the software which makes this enhancement possible, any documents previously created using v2 of Write-N-Cite will need to be converted to become compatible with v3. The simple conversion process is documented on the eServices Support wiki. A step-by-step walkthough document is downloadable from the wiki page in both Word and .pdf formats.

RefWorks 2.0 User Interface – Summer 2010

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

In the new year, RefWorks will release its updated v.2.0 User Interface. Review the Press Release; read the introduction to the new version; see screen grabs of some of the key new areas of functionality; and consult the FAQs.

Although the new interface will be available to RefWorks customers in early 2010, Libraries and Learning Resources will not migrate accounts from the existing interface until next summer (rather than introduce this part-way through the academic year). Once the new interface is released, individual staff members and students will have the option to select it as a personal preference, but until all NTU accounts are migrated wholesale to the new version the existing interface will remain the default.

RefWorks – NTU ‘Output Style’ changes now live

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

An additional bibliographic ‘Output Style’ is now available in RefWorks to all Nottingham Trent University staff and students – named Harvard LLR – all authors (December 2009). The only difference between this additional output style and the previous Harvard LLR style is the treatment of multiple authors. The Harvard LLR – all authors output style, as the name suggests, lists all of the authors of a piece of work rather than using the ‘et al.’ convention to indicate the existence of four or more authors, as the Harvard LLR style does.

As some minor punctuation changes have also been made to the existing Harvard LLR style, it has been renamed Harvard LLR (December 2009). Both output styles appear under the ‘Nottingham Trent University Specific’ heading in the Output Style drop-down list (see illustration below).

Below are some (fictitious) references illustrating some of the presentational differences between the two styles:

A Journal article:

Harvard LLR – all authors (December 2009):

CLEMENS, S.L., FAULKNER, W.C., BROWNING, E.B., MURRAY, J.S., ALCOTT, L.M., STOWE, H.B. and SANDBURG, C.A., 2010. The History of Everything. Journal of Total History, 24 (12), 22-44.

Harvard LLR (December 2009):

CLEMENS, S.L., et al., 2010. The History of Everything. Journal of Total History, 24 (12), 22-44.

A Chapter in an edited book:

Harvard LLR – all authors (December 2009):

CLEMENS, S.L., FAULKNER, W.C., BROWNING, E.B., MURRAY, J.S., ALCOTT, L.M., STOWE, H.B. and SANDBURG, C.A., 2012. The History of Everything. In: R.W. EMERSON, W.B. YEATS and R.L. FROST, eds., The Complete Book of Total History. 2nd ed. Nottingham: Premier, 2012, pp. 44-66.

Harvard LLR (December 2009):

CLEMENS, S.L., et al. 2012. The History of Everything. In: R.W. EMERSON, W.B. YEATS and R.L. FROST, eds., The Complete Book of Total History. 2nd ed. Nottingham: Premier, 2012, pp. 44-66.

RefWorks service unavailable

eSystems Team

The RefWorks service is currently unavailable due to technical problems affecting the RefWorks servers. It is not possible to access the service from either on-campus or off-campus.

eServices is in contact with RefWorks support team and a further update will follow once access has been restored.