The following memo to the York community has been issued by the York Libraries.
York University Libraries would like to assure the York University community that all York RefWorks accounts and all data associated with those accounts are safely stored on the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) server, which is located on the University of Toronto campus.
In an item aired on the CBC Radio “National News” on Nov. 7, there were interviews with researchers who were concerned about the storage of RefWorks user accounts and citation data. Some universities in Canada have their RefWorks users’ accounts and data stored on the RefWorks server in the United States and this information may be subject to application of the US Patriot Act. This is not the case with York University RefWorks accounts.
No personal or demographic data is required from individuals when setting up a RefWorks account; users need only supply an e-mail address.
York University Libraries endorse the use of RefWorks as a tool for the collection, storage and manipulation of bibliographic citation data. A Web-based citation management application such as RefWorks allows access to and use of a researcher’s citation data from any computer with Internet access. It facilitates sharing of citation data and frees users of the need to back-up data and install software updates.
For further information on RefWorks and how to obtain a RefWorks account at no charge to individuals, see the Libraries’ RefWorks information webpages. On the Libraries’ home page www.library.yorku.ca, simply click on the “Footnotes, Bibliographies, RefWorks” heading.