Not fully considered recommendation

November 3, 2009 7:20 PM

Mendeley won't allow view-only collections that aren't fully public. Now what?

I work for a large non-profit as an information specialist. I suggested Mendeley to my director as a way to share research papers among our staff internally. We are not allowed to set up a web-server, we are sensitive to keeping our information secure, and we don't have the money to buy this type of software. We had to go through IT which did a risk assessment and ok'd downloading Mendeley for users who do not have sensitive information on their computers.

Only problem is I didn't realize the only way to allow users to view collections without allowing them to add to it is only through fully public collections. I would think IT would be aware of the fact, but my director came back to me and asked if a non-editing, view-only setting was possible. I answered yes, but the question was asked quickly and I didn't have a chance to fully think it through, with the public accessibility implications in mind, since I'm only in a few hours a week. The idea that any of part of our collections would be fully public is highly unpalatable. Any advice?

This might be a work & money question or a computers & internet question.

posted by anonymous to Work & Money (1 answer total)

What you're trying to do is not what this software is for. It's designed for sharing with the world. I think your best bet is something like Google Docs, which is both free and allows strict permissions.
posted by decathecting at 8:20 AM on November 4, 2009