Today marks the one year anniversary of Zotero’s public release, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank the vibrant community of Zotero users and developers. If you searched for Zotero on the web a year ago you would have found only one hit; now Zotero has been mentioned over 1,200,000 times on the web. Our active forums now offer over 5,500 comments in over 1,300 individual threads. Bloggers have posted almost 5,000 posts, reviewing and promoting Zotero and helping us rapidly expand our audience.

All of Zotero’s successes this year have been facilitated by our passionate users. In February, Zotero was recognized by PC magazine as one of the best free software applications. Its steady growth has now been augmented by a flood of new users through the Firefox Campus Edition, and our recent award for best instructional technology software from the American Political Science Association further validates the project’s progress.

We are excited to see Zotero fulfilling its goal of becoming “the next-generation research tool.” An array of libraries now recommend Zotero on their websites, and many have developed their own documentation and are offering Zotero instruction for students and faculty. Zotero has been featured on Inside Higher Education, in the Medical Library Association’s Newsletter, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Journal of Web Librarianship and many other press outlets.

This has certainly been a great first year for the Zotero project, but the years to come promise to be even more exciting.

Earlier today a representative from the Information Technology and Politics section of the American Political Science Association stopped by our offices to honor us with their award for best instructional software of 2007.

We are excited to add this to our ever-growing wall of awards and press.

Scott McLemee has posted a very thorough review of Zotero on Inside Higher Education. The article does an excellent job explaining Zotero “for the absolute newbie” and has already sparked some thoughtful comments and discussion from faculty and staff in the higher education community. Give it a read and join in the conversation.

For further Zotero reading, you might take a look at a Q and A about Zotero the Institute for Museum and Library Services recently posted to their website. If you would rather listen, you might be more interested in a conversation about Zotero from the Talking with Talis podcast series. Still hungry for more Zotero news and reviews? You can always take a look at what people are saying about Zotero in our documentation section.

Zotero is almost a year old, and all kinds of researchers are making use of the tool. What catchy phrase do you think best captures what Zotero does for you? Post your suggestions here and you could win a Zotero t-shirt. Each month we will select the best tagline and add it to the rotating catch phrases at the top of the Zotero homepage. Winners not only receive a t-shirt but also bragging rights, so start posting!