everyday. periphery.

A few days ago the new version 8 of Bookends by Sonny Software has been published. Bookends is a bibliography software similar to Endnote or Bibliographix or one of the other bibliography managers out there. However, it is only available for Mac OS X. Probably because of this focus on the Mac market, the interface is much easier to understand than the interface of other bibliography apps that I have used. What’s even better, it integrates perfectly with the word processor of my choice, Mellel.
Noteable new features of this really well-supported software are:

• Internet database searching and importing. (That way you can access the Library of Congress and other Libraries / Databases, search for references, and then import the references along with additional information like keywords and sometimes even abstracts into your bibliography.)
• Smart groups to organize your bibliography. (They work similar to smart playlists in iTunes or saved searches in Thunderbird.)
• XML import / export.
• Bookends Server, which allows me to grant you access to my bibliography!

After getting acquainted with the new version of Bookeends and solving a few server related problems with Jon from Sonny Software (his response / solution time has been below 10 hours – and that is including time zone related delays), I am proud to present you with probably one of the first WWW-wide available Bookends bibliographies in this universe: search my bibliography. Username and password are currently set to: “freund” and “mellon”. I will keep the server running pretty often. However, I might later change these and mail the current username and password to you by request.

I have also created import filters for Bookends with search capabilities for the following library catalogues in Germany: GBV/GVK, HeBIS, and VÖBB. I haven’t tested these thoroughly yet. Additionally, I have created a custom format in German (this is the same format which is applied on the output of my online bibliography, so check it out). You can download it. Any feedback is very welcome.