After the most recent wave of Exhibit Builder development in Collex, the NINES development team experimented with a number of exhibit types, including annotated bibliographies, essays, presentations, and thematic tours of our partner sites. In doing so, we determined that footnotes were a crucial feature of academic argument, and required even outside the confines of the codex.

Hyperlinks often serve the purpose of footnotes in online publishing, precisely because they allow an author to direct the reader to a full resource instead of a mere citation. However useful, links cannot fully supplant the discursive footnote or endnote, in which the author is able to cite a reference and also provide additional information about those sources outside of the main body of the text. Collex now allows users to add footnotes to their documents in Exhibit Builder, which can be read precisely where they are placed in the text (by pop-up dialogs) or as endnotes.

From the text editor, simply choose the the icon with the asterix under ‘Insert Item’ to create a footnote. Once you’ve finished, you’ll be taken back to your original section. Only after you submit the changes to that section will Exhibit Builder number the notes for you. This way, wherever you insert a note, the software will re-number the list for you.

Once you’ve added a note, your document will automatically add an endnotes page, seen here as a diamond. If you decide to print out your exhibit, the notes will be printed on the final page, along with a comprehensive list of links used in your work as well.

As always your feedback is greatly appreciated!