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The background to the development of personal reference management software is outlined and the difference between the two basic types—database management software and text retrieval software—is explained. In conclusion a checklist for evaluating personal reference management software is given.

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Communications software has traditionally been used in the library environment for online searching to retrieve bibliographic and, more recently, numerical and textual information. Using microcomputers has become widespread for such work as their local storage and processing power can make online searching faster and more convenient than using a dumb terminal. It also enables data to be downloaded. Many packages have been developed which provide the features needed by online searchers and a recent trend has been for online hosts and database providers to produce software geared to their own systems.