At the Centers for Violence Prevention, we conduct actionable research for violence prevention—and we believe that research shouldn't sit behind closed doors.

We highlight select resources in our Resource Library, but didn’t want to stop there. That's why we've built a public library of CVP’s more than 400 research papers on violence prevention, organized and freely searchable for anyone who wants to explore it. Whether you're a journalist looking for a source, a student working on a paper, a policymaker vetting an intervention, or simply a community member curious about the evidence behind our work, this library is for you.

You don't need a university login, a subscription, or any research training to use it. This post walks you through what the library is, what's in it, and exactly how to find what you're looking for.

What Is Zotero?

Our library is built in a tool called Zotero — a free platform researchers use to collect, organize, and share sources. Think of it like a shared, searchable bookshelf: anyone can browse the shelves, but only our team can add or remove titles.

A few things worth knowing up front:

• You don't need to create an account to browse, search, or read entries.
• You don't need to install anything. It works right in your web browser.
• It's free. It's an open, public collection on a free, easy-to-use platform.
• It’s a living resource. Our team adds new papers on an ongoing basis, so it's worth checking back periodically.

What's in Our Library

Our Zotero library holds over 400 papers, with new papers added every month. They are organized several ways to make browsing easier. Standard bibliographic sorting—author, title, and year—helps narrow down the options, while tags are keywords attached by our team to each entry so you can filter by theme. Our tags are aligned with the resources available on our website and span topics central to violence prevention, including:

• Causes and consequences of violence, including risk/protective factors and social determinants
• Firearms and their role in violence, including firearm acquisition, access, and risk, as well as illegal firearm supply, trafficking, and crime guns
• Types of violence, such as community violence, suicide, and mass shootings
• Prevention strategies, ranging from clinical and community-based approaches to social and economic policies, firearm policies, using data to predict violence, and more
• Violence in California and across the U.S.

How to Use the Library, Step by Step

1. Open the library Visit our library directly at zotero.org/groups/uc_davis_centers_for_violence_prevention/library. No login required — the page opens straight into the collection.
2. Search by keyword At the top right of the page is a search bar. Type in a topic, author name, or keyword, and Zotero will search across titles, authors, and abstracts to surface matching results.
3. Filter with tags Along the left side of the page, you'll find a tag selector. Clicking a tag narrows your current view to only papers that carry it. Selecting two or more tags is useful for narrowing topics down.
4. View an entry Clicking on any paper in the list opens a detail panel showing its full citation, authors, publication year, abstract, and any attached notes or links.
5. Get the full text Access to the full paper depends on the source:
   • Open access papers are freely available to everyone — the entry will link directly to the publisher's site where you can read or download it at no cost.
   • Papers behind a publisher paywall: if you're affiliated with a university, most of these can be accessed or requested through your institution's library.
   • Need a paper you can't access either way? Email our team at [email protected] with the paper's title and author, and we'll help you get it.
6. Export citations Zotero allows you to export individual entries or full collections in common citation formats — handy if you're writing a paper of your own and want to cite our sources directly. You can also drag-and-drop to add them to your own Zotero library if you have your own account.

Why this Matters

Access to our research isn't just a courtesy — it's part of how we advance our mission and hold ourselves accountable. When violence prevention recommendations are grounded in evidence anyone can review, it strengthens trust between researchers, practitioners, and the communities we serve. Knowledge sharing fosters new lines of questioning and discovery. Ultimately, access to information empowers communities for more effective violence prevention.

Explore the Library

Ready to dig in? Get started exploring CVP's Zotero library! 

Have a question, need full text for a paper, or think we're missing an important study? Reach out anytime at [email protected] — we'd love to hear from you.