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Zotero: A Citation Tool

TriCo Libraries Guide

What is a Group?

With groups, you can collaborate remotely with project members, set up web-based bibliographies for classes you teach, and so much more.

  • Share your own work or sources you have discovered with others who are working in related areas.
  • Collaborate with colleagues, publicly or privately, on ongoing research.
  • Discover other people with similar interests and the sources they are citing.

How to Create a Group

You need a Zotero.org account to create a group. To create a group, click on the new group button in the Zotero toolbar:

Zotero will launch your browser. Log into your Zotero.org account.

Give your group a name, and choose a group type:

  1. Public, Open Membership: anyone can view your group online and join the group instantly.
  2. Public, Closed Membership: anyone can view your group online, but members must apply or be invited.*
  3. Private Membership: only members can view your group online and must be invited to join.*

*Only Private Membership and Public, Closed Membership groups allow syncing and sharing of files.

In the following screen, provide a group description, including discipline and a group photo (optional).

From the same screen, you can begin inviting members to your group. Click Members Settings:

Click Send More Invitations under Member Invitations. You can invite members either by email address or Zotero username.

You can update member roles in the Member Settings screen, assigning different editing privileges to each member.

Next, configure the group settings.

You can choose whether to make your library viewable to anyone on the internet or just the group members, and grant library and file editing privileges to members or admins only.

Your new group library will appear in the Zotero application after running sync. You can now begin adding citations and files to the group library.