Lean Library Workspace (formerly Sciwheel): About Sciwheel
Created by Health Science Librarians
Sciwheel Set to Rebrand as Lean Library Marketplace
- The Sciwheel website is rebranding to Lean Library Workspace and the domain will change from sciwheel.com to workspace.leanlibrary.com. Automatic redirects are being set up on the domain, so none of your links or bookmarks will break.
- The Sciwheel browser extension will be replaced with the Lean Library browser extension, where there will be like-for-like functionality of the key Lean Library Workspace (Sciwheel) extension features (plus other great features!).
- The Sciwheel Google Docs and Microsoft Word add-ons will be rebranded to Lean Library – with compatibility improvements, bug fixes and old versions decommissioned coming next.
We will update this guide as soon as we have more information about the rebranding and other updates to the current Lean Library Workspace (Sciwheel) interface.
About Lean Library Workspace (formerly Sciwheel)
Lean Library Workspace (Sciwheel) is a citation management program designed for researchers to:
- Collect, organize, and save citations.
- Annotate and highlight PDFs.
- Collaborate with others by sharing projects.
- Create and format references in Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
Lean Library Workspace (Sciwheel) is a web-based platform and is compatible with both Windows and Mac. They offer two types of plans: 1.) a free account with limited features and storage, or 2.) a premium account with added features and storage. All UNC-CH students, faculty, and staff have free, premium access through our institutional subscription.
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Access Lean Library Workspace (Sciwheel)Login to an existing Lean Library Workspace (Sciwheel) account
Comparing Reference Managers
Choosing a Citation Manager
We offer support and instruction for 3 citation managers at UNC: Lean Library Workspace (Sciwheel), Endnote, and Zotero. We recommend different citation managers based on your needs.
| Feature: | Endnote | Zotero | Lean Library Workspace (Sciwheel) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | $108 for students, faculty, & staff through UNC | Free | Free through UNC-CH |
| How is it used | Computer + Online | Computer + Online | Online |
| Classes available at UNC | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Collaborate with others in a shared document | Difficult | Easy | Easy |
| Add references with a browser extension | No | Yes | Yes |
| Locate full-text using UNC-CH Subscriptions | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| It is very easy to transition from one citation manager to another by exporting your references and importing them into a new program. View our Switching Citation Managers guide for more details. | |||
We recommend Lean Library Workspace (Sciwheel) if you want to:
- Store and share references
- Collaborate with others in shared documents
- Collaborate mostly with other UNC Affiliates - UNC Affiliates have free access to a premium subscription. A free version is available with limited projects.
Lean Library Workspace (Sciwheel) is the most user-friendly and easy to learn platform.
We recommend Zotero if you want to:
- Store and share references
- Collaborate with other in shared documents
- Collaborate often with people at other institutions OR you are graduating soon and will no longer be at UNC.
Zotero is somewhat user-friendly and freely available for anyone.
View our Zotero guide for more details about getting started in Zotero.
We recommend EndNote if you want to:
- Conduct bibliometric analysis
- Perform systematic review searching
- Create custom citation styles
View our Endnote guide for more details about getting started in EndNote.
There is a significant learning curve with EndNote and it is not easy to collaborate in shared documents. Since it is not free, we only recommend EndNote if you need advanced functionality not available in other programs.