Best Bytes – PDF Converters
Posted on August 1, 2012 by Lisa Federer | 1 Comment
Contributed by Andrea Harrow, MLS, Medical Librarian/CME & IRB Coordinator, Good Samaritan Hospital, Los Angeles
Many of you savvy librarians are probably already using a PDF converter. Just in case you are not, I wanted to share this recommendation with you. Rather than cutting and pasting information into a Word doc, I convert text into a PDF. This is best achieved when there is an option to print as the formatting has been optimized.
There are numerous free programs out there if you search on “converting to PDF”. I had my IS Dept download cutePDF.com on all the library computers. You can also get converter programs to convert PDFs to Word. Now when the content my subscribed database delivers has full-text but does not supply a PDF, I can click the print option and save it as a PDF myself.
My other favorite use for this tool is when saving Pubmed search results to send to a patron. Everyone has their preferred method of sending Pubmed search results. Since I get most of my search requests by email, I like to reply to those and attach what I can find including a list of Pubmed search results. Cutting and pasting from Pubmed into a Word doc can make for an unevenly formatted mess. I get the best formatting results by using the Pubmed Display Settings and selecting Abstract(text). I then save as a PDF in the print options. And, because you are sending a PDF, your patron will most likely be able to open it.
Comments
One Response to “Best Bytes – PDF Converters”
Leave a Reply
August 2nd, 2012 @ 12:01 pm
One other useful trick: Google Chrome lets you save web pages as PDF files. Very handy for sending web page content to someone or saving something for future reference.