About
The Salvelinus confluentus Curiosity Society (ScCS) was formed in 1989 to promote the understanding and conservation of bull trout. In keeping with those objectives, we pursued developing an online digital library for the species, where publications and other information on bull trout could be easily accessed by interested biologists and others. While search tools, such as Google Scholar, have greatly increased our ability to find published information, much of the formally published content is scattered among various journals, which can still require considerable effort to find, and the “gray literature” is often not available online or in digital form and may be difficult to locate and obtain. Also, it is challenging for many biologists to keep up with the literature because of increasingly limited time and because they may not be aware of its existence. The library centralizes information on bull trout making it simpler to find and readily available on the web. We also maintain a mailing list to announce additions to the library so that subscribers are made aware of new information as it becomes available.
The library includes journal articles, reports, data, presentations, photographs and other content. Material in the library is organized by topic and locale and can be searched (see below), viewed, and downloaded directly or in some cases via links. The library is hosted by Zotero, a web-based reference management system that is free to set up and provides free access to users. The library can be accessed online via this link –> ScCS Library.
We initially compiled the library from collections contributed by various biologists from the US and Canada, and we also conducted a web-based literature search to fill in some of the remaining gaps. The bull trout library is a “living” library, and it depends on you, its users, to help keep it complete and up to date. If you are aware of any publications that it’s missing, please let us know. Instructions for adding material to the library are in the quick start guide.
Funding to establish the library was generously provided by Avista, Portland General Electric, Idaho Power, Western Division of the American Fisheries Society (AFS), and the Montana Chapter of AFS.
The library was developed by Phil Howell, Michael Freyman, and Jason Dunham. Thanks to all who contributed material.
The Library
The ScCS Library is based on the Zotero project. Zotero is an open source system that can be used stand-alone as a desktop-based application, through a web portal for shared content, or a combination of the two. The ScCS Library is configured to use the collaborative, document sharing features of the web portal, while also permitting individual users to download a complete, synchronized copy of the library to a desktop installation of Zotero. A listing of the contents of the library is publicly viewable from the ScCS group site and does not require a Zotero account or library membership. However, signing up for a Zotero account (link) and library membership are required to access and download stored, shared content (pdfs, data, etc.), whether via the web portal or desktop version. To request membership in the ScCS Library, email us at bull.trout.library@gmail.com. Please include your name, the email address to send an invitation to, professional affiliation, and/or personal interest in the library (if desired). If you would like to be added to the ScCS Library mailing list to be notified when new content is added to the library, please indicate that as well.
Zotero on the Internet
The web portal for the ScCS group site can be accessed here.
Zotero on the Desktop
Zotero is also available as a desktop installation that enables you to easily store, organize and share metadata and documents for references including books, journal articles, websites and other resources. You can use your Zotero library to generate in-text citations and bibliographies, as well as create your own libraries for other subjects. To get started with Zotero, review the ScCS Library Quick Start Guide or visit the Zotero documentation site to learn more about using the application and installing it on your desktop. You may also want to register online and create a user account, which can be done by clicking Register in the top right corner of the Zotero download page. This online account will allow you to back up your library and access the library from multiple computers, use your online library to share references with others, sync group libraries to your desktop, and network with other Zotero users.
Submitting New Content for Inclusion in the Library
We have attempted to make the library as complete as possible at the time it was first released. However, we recognize that there will be content we missed, particularly “unpublished” material, locally published or “gray” literature, and new material of all types, published and unpublished. So, if you know of bull trout information that is not in the library, please contact ScCS at bull.trout.library@gmail.com. Please include your contact information and the nature/context of the content to be submitted. We will contact you with options for getting the content transferred to us.
