# multibib-like functionality

**URL:** <https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/multibib-like-functionality/1011>\
**Category:** CSL Development\
**Created:** [May 19, 2011, 1:07pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/multibib-like-functionality/1011 "2011-05-19T13:07:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bruce\_D\_Arcus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Bruce\_D\_Arcus1](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/Bruce_D_Arcus1)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 1:07pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/multibib-like-functionality/1011/1 "2011-05-19T13:07:50Z")

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So I don’t see this as a CSL style issue, but it might be worth  
raising, because it could be related to a possible CSL API.

Zotero users have periodically requested functionality similar to what  
the bibtex multibib package offers: that is, being able to have  
multi-sectional bibliographies. Possible examples I’ve seen include:

- primary and secondary sources
- legal cases and everything else
- discographies vs. everything else

I would very much like to see this as well.

So you need a way to:

1. set the heading for these sections
2. to define which references get printed where

To me, the cleanest, most flexible, way to do this is via some sort of  
tag filtering, completely independently of CSL. For example, some way  
to say either a source or a reference belongs to the group "primary"  
and then being able to place a bibliography that prints all items  
within that group.

In any case, I’d ideally like a solution that is the same conceptually  
whether we’re talking GUI apps like Zotero and Mendeley, or text-based  
formats like markdown (pandoc).

Any thoughts?

Bruce

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**Author:** ![Rintze\_Zelle](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.citationstyles.org/rintze_zelle/32/175_2.png) [@Rintze\_Zelle](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/Rintze_Zelle)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 1:15pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/multibib-like-functionality/1011/2 "2011-05-19T13:15:01Z")

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Is it possible to completely separate the organization of multi-section  
bibliographies from the CSL style? E.g., is it common for the different  
sections to have different sorting criteria (in which case you’d have to add  
support for this in CSL)?

Rintze

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**Author:** ![Bruce\_D\_Arcus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Bruce\_D\_Arcus1](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/Bruce_D_Arcus1)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/multibib-like-functionality/1011/3 "2011-05-19T13:22:59Z")

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I doubt it, but that’s a good question.

Aside from actual bibliographies, another place to check is the  
biblatex docs to see if they felt any need to allow for this.

Bruce

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**Author:** ![Frank\_Bennett](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.citationstyles.org/frank_bennett/32/198_2.png) [@Frank\_Bennett](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/Frank_Bennett)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/multibib-like-functionality/1011/4 "2011-05-19T22:21:57Z")

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> So I don’t see this as a CSL style issue, but it might be worth  
> raising, because it could be related to a possible CSL API.
> 
> Zotero users have periodically requested functionality similar to what  
> the bibtex multibib package offers: that is, being able to have  
> multi-sectional bibliographies. Possible examples I’ve seen include:
> 
> - primary and secondary sources
> - legal cases and everything else
> - discographies vs. everything else
> 
> I would very much like to see this as well.
> 
> So you need a way to:
> 
> 1. set the heading for these sections
> 2. to define which references get printed where

Is (2) alone sufficient? It would be awkward to require modifications  
to the style or the locale in order to change a bibliography heading.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bruce\_D\_Arcus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Bruce\_D\_Arcus1](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/Bruce_D_Arcus1)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 10:47pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/multibib-like-functionality/1011/5 "2011-05-19T22:47:58Z")

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Definitely agree.

Bruce