The Chicago School University Library, in partnership with its colleagues at The Community Solution Education System, Pacific Oaks College, Saybrook University, Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine, and the University of Western States, has decided to begin sunsetting our support for Refworks.
What is the Timeline?
Support will officially end on February 20th, 2025.
Why is the Library ending support for Refworks?
The usage of Refworks has always been very low. In the last five years, usage has continued to decline. While usage of the service has declined, its cost has continued to increase, putting increasing pressure on the Library's budget. By moving away from Refworks, the Library will be able to reinvest funds into new services and resources better to meet the needs of The Chicago School Community.
Does this mean the library won't support Citation Managers at all?
Not at all! The Library has strengthened its commitment to using the open-access alternative Zotero. The Library already provides unlimited Zotero Storage for the entire Chicago School Community. You only need to use your institutional email to take advantage of the benefit.
Why Zotero?
There are a lot of citation managers in the marketplace. Endnote and Refworks are both now owned by Clarivate, and Endnote, like RefWorks, is cost-prohibitive for institutions to provide. Mendeley is owned by Elsevier, which comes with concerns about the data collection policies that power Mendeley's social network. Additionally, Mendeley's word processing plugin does not work with the Chicago School's Microsoft 365 Services. Moving to support Zotero also closely aligns with the library's desire to support systems that support easy dissemination and sharing of information and knowledge. We sincerely believe that Zotero is an excellent tool with great potential to make every student's, faculty's, and staff member's life a bit easier. At the end of the day, Zotero works well, has a very large community of users, and provides a great user experience (especially in its soon-to-be-released redesigned version!)
How can I export my citations to another citation manager if I'm currently using Refworks?
That is a great question! If you want to switch to Zotero, see the library's guide “How to Export Citations from RefWorks to Zotero”, which includes step-by-step instructions and a helpful video. If you prefer another citation manager, such as Mendeley or EndNote. The library's RefWorks guide provides instructions for the most popular citation managers. If you need assistance with exporting your citations from RefWorks, you can also make an appointment with a librarian. We're committed to helping make the transition as seamless as possible.