Library News - LibGuides at Nova Scotia Health

Both Zotero and Covidence can store, manage, and deduplicate citations. However, they differ significantly in their application and scope.

What is Zotero?

Zotero is a free citation management software that includes a desktop application and a browser extension.

What you can do with Zotero:

Save bibliographic information from any page on the internet.
Import citations through various file types (e.g. BibTeX, RIS, Zotero RDF).
Sort your citations into folders and sub-folders.
Create a single citation or an entire reference bibliography in any citation style.

Learn more about accessing and using Zotero:

Visit our Citation Management subject guide for more information about accessing and using Zotero.
Visit the Zotero website for tutorials and information on how to make the most out of Zotero.
Visit the Zotero blog and forums to troubleshoot very specific issues that you may encounter.

TIP: You can use Google to search within the Zotero blog and forum by adding site: forums.zotero.org/discussions or site: zotero.org/blog/ after your Google search query. This limits your search to only those sites. For example, to learn how to add full-text PDFs to your saved citations, search full text pdf site:zotero.org/blog/.

What is Covidence?

Covidence is a web-based software that lets members of a research team collaborate through the various stages of a knowledge synthesis project (such as a systematic review). Nova Scotia Health has an institutional license to Covidence, which means Covidence is now free to use for Nova Scotia Health staff!

What you can do with Covidence:

Upload citations
Screen titles and abstracts
Screen full-text articles and resources
Complete data extraction

Learn more about accessing and using Covidence:

To create an account or join your existing account to our license, follow the steps outlined on our Institutional Subscriber page or our Knowledge Synthesis and Covidence subject guide.
For articles, books, and training webinars, visit Covidence Academy
For troubleshooting and detailed walkthroughs, visit Covidence Knowledge Base
For both shorter and longer video content (including recorded webinars) that are accessible to the public, visit Covidence’s YouTube Channel

What’s the difference?

Zotero is great for organizing literature sources, creating reference lists, and assisting with in-text citation. You will likely find Zotero more useful for everyday research needs.

Covidence is best for conducting knowledge synthesis projects with a team that will lead to a published review article. Outside of scholarly publications, Covidence could also be used by a team to screen through a large amount of potentially relevant literature to find those that are most relevant to your specific needs.

Both tools have distinct features that make them suitable for different purposes. The table below lists the different strengths of each tool, depending on your project needs:

Zotero	Covidence
Organizing literature sources Creating reference lists Assisting with bibliography and in-text citation Great for everyday search needs	Conducting knowledge synthesis projects Working on a team-based project Creating a published review article Great for screening through a large amount of relevant literature

Interested in learning more about knowledge synthesis? Check out our Knowledge Synthesis and Covidence subject guide!

Reach out to LitSearch@nshealth.ca with your questions.

Kendell Fitzgerald

Librarian Educator
Halifax Infirmary, Central Zone

Vinson Li

Librarian Educator
Yarmouth Regional Hospital, Western Zone

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Patient Education Pamphlets created, updated, or archived in August 2025

Writing in plain language matters. In Canada, it’s reported that nine million people have limited literacy skills, with over half of Canadians reading below a high school level. This is just one of the reasons why it is important to offer additional support to patients and families with easy-to-read, straightforward patient pamphlets. For more information about creating or updating patient pamphlets, please visit the Patient Education Resources Toolkit. Contact Pamphlets@nshealth.ca with any questions. You can search for pamphlets by title or keyword in the pamphlets catalogue, or view the complete listing of active titles in our Print Code Index.The following pamphlets were updated or created in August 2025. Arabic TranslationsAR85-2153 Ethics Tool - Help with Ethical Issues [Arabic] (English: WX85-2056, French: FF85-2142, Simplified Chinese: CH85-2168)AR85-2512 NEW Getting Ready to Start Your Insulin Pump [Arabic] (English: WK85-2491)Cardiovascular System WG85-1393 What is a MIBI (Sestamibi) Test? Previous title: What is a MIBI? QE IIChinese (Simplified) TranslationsCH85-2168 Ethics Tool - Help with Ethical Issues [Simplified Chinese] (English: WX85-2056, En français: FF85-2142, Arabic: AR85-2153)Digestive System WI85-0225 Living With Advanced Liver DiseaseWI85-0601 Waiting for Your Liver Transplant (En français: FF85-1123)Emergency & Public Health WA85-2509 NEW Sepsis Endocrine System WK85-1037 My Diabetes RecordFrench Translations (en français)FF85-2082 Programme de gestion du sang périopératoire (GSP) (English: WH85-1396) Previous title: Service de gestion du sang périopératoireFF85-2183 Vos droits en vertu de la Loi sur le traitement psychiatrique involontaire (English: WX85-1146) Previous title: Vos droits - En vertu de la loi sur le traitement psychiatrique obligatoireFF85-2142 Outil d'éthique - Aide pour les enjeux d’éthique (English: WX85-2056, Arabic: AR85-2153, Simplified Chinese: CH85-2168) FF85-2107 Délirium après une chirurgie cardiaque (English: WG85-1480)FF85-2202 Interaction des contraceptifs avec les médicaments – sugammadex et/ou aprépitant (English: WP85-2076) Previous title: Interaction des contraceptifs avec le sugammadex (Bridion™)FF85-1786 Après l’extraction des dents ou l’extraction des dents de sagesse (English: WU85-0646)FF85-2505 NEW Parler de vos objectifs de soins et choisir un niveau d'intervention (English: WX85-2208)FF85-2515 NEW Préparation pour l’utilisation de votre pompe à insuline (English: WK85-2491, Arabic: AR85-2512)Geriatrics WT85-2519 NEW Geriatric Assessment Clinic - Soldiers’ Memorial HospitalGynecology & Reproductive HealthWP85-2285 High Blood Pressure in Pregnancy - South Shore Regional HospitalHospital InformationWX85-2056 Ethics Tool - Help with Ethical Issues (En français: FF85-2142, Arabic: AR85-2153, Simplified Chinese: CH85-2168)WX85-2514 NEW Find Patient Education Resources OnlineLaboratory PathologyQY85-1976 24-Hour Urine Collection - South Shore Regional HospitalQY85-1971 Stool Collection for Ova and Parasites - South Shore Regional HospitalMedicationsQV85-2262 Benzodiazepines for Alcohol WithdrawalQV85-2269 Disulfiram for Alcohol Use Disorder Previous title: Disulfiram for Alcohol DependenceNutrition & FoodLC85-0510 Vegetarian VarietyLC85-2513 NEW Counting Carbohydrates and the Glycemic IndexLC85-2518 NEW Prehab: Eating Well Before SurgeryPain ManagementPM85-1654 Halifax Pain Self-Management Program Physiotherapy & RehabilitationWB85-1672 Active Cycle Breathing Technique (ACBT) (En français: FF85-2200)Urogenital SystemWJ85-2501 Urine Testing After SurgeryWJ85-2510 NEW Mid-stream Urine Collection - Valley Regional Hospital and Yarmouth Regional HospitalThe following pamphlets were archived in August 2025:WD85-2038 Understanding Grief - Palliative Care Unit: Aberdeen HospitalIf a pamphlet that has been archived is still needed, please let us know as soon as possible and we will work with you to make it available again. Kendell FitzgeraldLibrarian EducatorCentral Zone...

Education and training opportunities this fall with Library Services

Did you know?Library Services' Education and Training team provides all staff, physicians and researchers with education and supports to effectively discover and use health information.We keep in mind health care workers' busy schedules, offering sessions on a variety of dates and times. There is sure to be a session suitable for you. Register for one or several classes below, offered from September through December:Accessing Full TextIt can be challenging enough to find the journal articles that you need, but then accessing the full text of the article can also be difficult. Library Services pays for several subscriptions to give you access to many articles. This session will help you access them. The session will also help you get the full text of articles to which Library Services doesn't provide access.Developing Patient Education PamphletsThis session highlights how easy-to-read and up-to-date patient education materials can support patient care and safety. Learn how to get started, what is involved in developing and updating pamphlets, and how to find, use and share pamphlets effectively.Find it FastThis session focuses on navigating core library tools and resources, including the catalogue, ejournals and ebooks, and databases. Learn how to access library resources and services through this virtual tour.Finding Free-to-use Images: Public domain, open licenses, and more!In this hands-on session, you’ll work with a sample search to find free-of-charge or open-licensed photographs, illustrations, and more in Google Images, Microsoft products, as well as reputable online sources. You’ll learn to interpret how images are licensed and how to cite them appropriately.Introduction to CovidenceCovidence is now available through Nova Scotia Health’s institutional license. Covidence is an online software that allows research teams to collaborate through each stage of a knowledge synthesis project (e.g. systematic reviews).Introduction to Knowledge SynthesisLibrary Services has a new, free service to support researchers in their knowledge synthesis projects (e.g. systematic reviews, scoping reviews, etc.). This session will outline how the service works, who can access it, and what the librarians can do for your team.Managing Citations with Zotero NEWTired of manually formatting references or losing track of your sources? In this session, we’ll cover how to install Zotero, collect references from websites, databases, and PDFs, organize your library with folders, and generate in-text citations and bibliographies in multiple styles.Using Generative A.I. NEWGenerative A.I. (also called Gen A.I.) is a term for any A.I. that creates text, images, video, and audio to meet and/or respond to your prompts. Gen A.I. is growing increasingly popular, with some of the most well-known Gen A.I. tools being ChatGPT, Microsoft CoPilot, and DALL-E. This session will give a general overview of generative A.I., including what to consider before, during, and after you use a Gen A.I. tool.Check out all available course dates this spring in our learning opportunities calendar or by scanning our Library Education QR code. You can also print and post our fall education flyer.If you have questions, please reach out to AskLibrary@nshealth.ca. We look forward to seeing you in one or several of our sessions!Amanda AndrewsLibrarian Educator, Education & Training LeadEastern Zone - Cape Breton, Guysborough, Antigonish...

Citation Management using Zotero or Covidence

Both Zotero and Covidence can store, manage, and deduplicate citations. However, they differ significantly in their application and scope.What is Zotero?Zotero is a free citation management software that includes a desktop application and a browser extension.What you can do with Zotero:Save bibliographic information from any page on the internet.Import citations through various file types (e.g. BibTeX, RIS, Zotero RDF).Sort your citations into folders and sub-folders.Create a single citation or an entire reference bibliography in any citation style.Learn more about accessing and using Zotero:Visit our Citation Management subject guide for more information about accessing and using Zotero.Visit the Zotero website for tutorials and information on how to make the most out of Zotero.Visit the Zotero blog and forums to troubleshoot very specific issues that you may encounter.TIP: You can use Google to search within the Zotero blog and forum by adding site: forums.zotero.org/discussions or site: zotero.org/blog/ after your Google search query. This limits your search to only those sites. For example, to learn how to add full-text PDFs to your saved citations, search full text pdf site:zotero.org/blog/.What is Covidence?Covidence is a web-based software that lets members of a research team collaborate through the various stages of a knowledge synthesis project (such as a systematic review). Nova Scotia Health has an institutional license to Covidence, which means Covidence is now free to use for Nova Scotia Health staff!What you can do with Covidence:Upload citationsScreen titles and abstractsScreen full-text articles and resourcesComplete data extractionLearn more about accessing and using Covidence:To create an account or join your existing account to our license, follow the steps outlined on our Institutional Subscriber page or our Knowledge Synthesis and Covidence subject guide.For articles, books, and training webinars, visit Covidence AcademyFor troubleshooting and detailed walkthroughs, visit Covidence Knowledge BaseFor both shorter and longer video content (including recorded webinars) that are accessible to the public, visit Covidence’s YouTube ChannelWhat’s the difference?Zotero is great for organizing literature sources, creating reference lists, and assisting with in-text citation. You will likely find Zotero more useful for everyday research needs.Covidence is best for conducting knowledge synthesis projects with a team that will lead to a published review article. Outside of scholarly publications, Covidence could also be used by a team to screen through a large amount of potentially relevant literature to find those that are most relevant to your specific needs.Both tools have distinct features that make them suitable for different purposes. The table below lists the different strengths of each tool, depending on your project needs:ZoteroCovidenceOrganizing literature sourcesCreating reference listsAssisting with bibliography and in-text citationGreat for everyday search needsConducting knowledge synthesis projectsWorking on a team-based projectCreating a published review articleGreat for screening through a large amount of relevant literatureInterested in learning more about knowledge synthesis? Check out our Knowledge Synthesis and Covidence subject guide!Reach out to LitSearch@nshealth.ca with your questions.Kendell FitzgeraldLibrarian EducatorHalifax Infirmary, Central ZoneVinson LiLibrarian EducatorYarmouth Regional Hospital, Western Zone...

In a sea of information, let a well-built question guide your search

UPDATED: July 28, 2025. Original Post: November 8, 2017Developing a clear question is an important first step when researching information to guide your work and/or decision-making, and when preparing for a potential research project. In health care, practitioners and researchers are faced with complex questions which make starting the research process a daunting task. A well-built question is clear, focused, and summarizes the issue to be investigated. Determining the type of question will help you select the best resource to consult for your answer.Background vs. Foreground QuestionsBackground questions are used to gather general information, typically asking the 5Ws: Who? What? When? Where? Why? To answer these questions, start with general resources, such as overview textbooks, summaries, medical directories, etc.Example: Looking for general information on diabetes care? Search for resources using Library Services' Discover search. Use the filters on the left-hand side of the page to retrieve results for books to find general information on the disease and its presentation.Other helpful resources for answering background questions include Library Services’ Subject Guides, which contain best bets on library resources for specific topics in healthcare research. Need resources that inform patient care? Our collection of Clinical Practice Supports highlights information and tools for clinical staff.Building Foreground QuestionsForeground questions are specific and complex. They often consider multiple factors to guide decision making and/or inform further research.Example: In women with migraine and aura, how does use of combination birth control pills affect risk of stroke compared to progestin-only birth control?Clearly articulating a foreground question and identifying key components can be challenging. Using the PICO(T) model can help you identify your key concepts and build your question before examining the literature.PICO Example:Patient or Problem:Women with migraine or auraIntervention:Progestin-only birth control pillsComparison:Combination birth control pillsOutcome:Risk of StrokeTime Period:OptionalThis Evidence Based Practice module from Dalhousie University's Kellogg Library takes you through the steps of creating an answerable clinical question using PICO.Structuring your SearchUsing PICO to develop your question will help you identify key search concepts. Tools like a search planning grid can help you plan and organize your PICO criteria into search terms. Once identified, additional terms can be derived from synonyms and related concepts to expand your search results.Once you have determined the key terms for your search, you will be able to search databases and search engines by combining your terms using Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT).Still have Questions?Visit Library Services’ Searching guide for more tips and assistance. Book a one-on-one consultation with a Librarian Educator to discuss building effective research questions or request a custom education session on the topic. Want to get started on searching? Try out your question-building skills by submitting a literature search request. We bet your results will be more relevant!Happy searching!Selena MacDonaldLibrarian EducatorNova Scotia Hospital, Central Zone...