newbie: how to import bibliographic data along with pdf

[ryanshroyer]

Sorry to ask such a terribly simple question, but I’m missing something really basic. I can’t seem to figure out how to import full texts and/or citations from my library’s databases. I’ve looked at the video tutorials and the user manual, but I think I’m overlooking something very simple, and that it’s preventing me from doing what I think is an easy task.

All I’d like to do is go to Proquest, Ebsco, or Nexis (I access these databases through my university’s website, which uses ezproxy) and somehow import the full text of the document along with the reference information into Bookends. But I can’t seem to figure out how.

Let’s take Proquest for example. I’ve tried dragging the URLs into bookends, tried dragging the pdf links into bookends, and tried dragging downloaded PDF files into bookends -- all to no avail.

If I download the PDF of the document and try to drag it from Finder into Bookends, I’m presented with the “Attach To Imported Reference” window. Great! But it doesn’t seem as if Bookends knows any of the reference info for the document. There’s no reference URL. And no DOI information. And there’s no option to “Import reference information and then attach.”

When I drag PDFs from Finder into Bookends, they DO appear in the attachments portion of the Reference window. So I know bookends is working properly. I just can’t figure out how to get Bookends to automatically see and import the bibliographic info from Proquest or Ebsco.

I know this is TERRIBLY basic, but could someone please give me a quick step-by-step of how to let Bookends automatically “see” or “know” the bibliographic data for something I’m looking up in Proquest (or Ebsco, or Nexis)? Or point me to the section of the user manual that I must be overlooking?

Sorry for the trouble, and thank you for your time.

Ryan

[Jon]

Hi, there are many ways to get metadata and pdfs into Bookends, so I'll only cover one. If you already have the pdf, drag and drop it on a database window. You'll get a dialog with the offer to attach to a new reference and import or autocomplete paper (the last option at the bottom of the dialog). If there is a doi in the pdf that Bookends can identify, the metadata will be imported with no further work. If there is no doi, you'll be presented with a sheet window where you can enter in a few details about the paper (like author and a few words from the title) and then search various online sources (PubMed, Google Scholar, JSTOR, Web Of Science) for the reference. If found you can import the metadata with a click.

If these steps don't work for you please contact tech support for help.

If they do work, but you have another scenario you want to explore, please reply on the forum and we'll go through that.

Jon
Sonny Software