If only all technology books were written so well. Jason Puckett does a very good job with describing Zotero, the open-source reference manager (it competes in the same space as the fairly well-known EndNote, ProCite, and RefWorks). He covers all the important steps -- from the very beginning installation procedure to evangelizing about the software (one would think that's a vital part of the process, as it is the final third of the book, but then again, this title is marketed towards librarians and educators). Puckett uses a very conversational tone, and provides a number of links to his own online guide and to those of others.

If there's any complaint about the book, it's that there's a limited number of pictures. If you're not sitting at your computer reading, there are a few spots where icons are explained but not visualized. He also "introduces" some sample characters who are learning about Zotero (an undergraduate student, a graduate student, a faculty member, and a librarian) but in an effort to make them generally applicable, we never see pictures of their sample Zotero libraries. While everyone's organizational structures will be different -- and that's undoubtedly why they were left out -- it would have been a bit more helpful to see different ways to organize that data Zotero keeps.

Even with the fast pace of technology, this book is still fairly up-to-date. I'm not aware of any major changes in the software that have changed any of the tips in the book. If you've been debating about using Zotero, grab this book and you'll likely be converted.

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LT Haiku:
Zotero software --
Bibliography helper --
Works great with this book. ( )