[Glastonbury] Linux bibliography managers

[Martin Wheeler]

On Thu, 9 Dec 2004, Ian Dickinson wrote:

>   What do docbook authors do for bibliography
> management?

Mark the text up using the <biblioentry> tags!
(Sorry.  Sorry.  Couldn't resist.  Now see text below.)


> Anyone have any recommendations or suggestions for
> bibliography managers for Linux?

Don't know of any 'managers' per se -- personally, I stuff the text into a 
database (MySQL) as I collect it; sort it alphabetically; then export in 
XML.  (I suppose if you don't want the hassle of setting up MySQL, you 
could just use gnumeric -- a rather swish spreadsheet that's a complete 
doddle to use.  If you want an all-in-one environment, use the 
multifarious tools and facilities of OpenOffice.org.)

I find the learning curve involved in getting to grips with a specialised 
package of that nature not worth the bother though, and tend to use a 
simple plain-text editor for everything.  (I flick between Nedit and 
emacs+psgml.)

=== begin extract ========================================================

Making a Bibliography

There are two ways to set up a bibliography in DocBook: you can have the data raw or cooked. Here's an example of a raw bibliographical item, wrapped in the Biblioentry element:

<biblioentry xreflabel="Kites75">
   <authorgroup>
     <author><firstname>Andrea</firstname><surname>Bahadur</surname></author>
     <author><firstname>Mark</><surname>Shwarek</></author>
   </authorgroup>
   <copyright><year>1974</year><year>1975</year>
      <holder>Product Development International Holding N. V.</holder>
      </copyright>
   <isbn>0-88459-021-6</isbn>
   <publisher>
     <publishername>Plenary Publications International, Inc.</publishername>
   </publisher>
   <title>Kites</title>
   <subtitle>Ancient Craft to Modern Sport</subtitle>
   <pagenums>988-999</pagenums>
   <seriesinfo>
     <title>The Family Creative Workshop</title>
     <seriesvolnums>1-22</seriesvolnums>
     <editor>
       <firstname>Allen</firstname>
       <othername role=middle>Davenport</othername>
       <surname>Bragdon</surname>
       <contrib>Editor in Chief</contrib>
     </editor>
   </seriesinfo>
</biblioentry>

The "raw" data in a Biblioentry is comprehensive to a fault - there are enough fields to suit a host of different bibliographical styles, and that is the point. An abundance of data requires processing applications to select, punctuate, order, and format the bibliographical data, and it is unlikely that all the information provided will actually be output.

All the "cooked" data in a Bibliomixed entry in a bibliography, on the other hand, is intended to be presented to the reader in the form and sequence in which it is provided. It even includes punctuation between the fields of data:

<bibliomixed>
   <bibliomset relation=article>
     <surname>Walsh</surname>, <firstname>Norman</firstname>.
     <title role=article>Introduction to Cascading Style Sheets</title>.
   </bibliomset>
   <bibliomset relation=journal>
     <title>The World Wide Web Journal</title>
     <volumenum>2</volumenum><issuenum>1</issuenum>.
     <publishername>O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.</publishername> and
     <corpname>The World Wide Web Consortium</corpname>.
     <pubdate>Winter, 1996</pubdate></bibliomset>.
</bibliomixed>

Clearly, these two ways of marking up bibliographical entries are suited to different circumstances. You should use one or the other for your bibliography, not both. Strictly speaking, mingling the raw and the cooked may be \u201ckosher\u201d as far as the DTD is concerned, but it will almost certainly cause problems for most processing applications.


From:

DocBook: The Definitive Guide

by Norman Walsh and Leonard Muellner
With contributions from Bob Stayton
ISBN: 156592-580-7
O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. 2002

==========================================================================

HTH.
-- 
Martin Wheeler   -   StarTEXT / AVALONIX - Glastonbury - BA6 9PH - England
mwheeler at startext.co.uk                http://www.startext.co.uk/mwheeler/
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