This is probably the 'thing' that I have so far spent the least amount of time investigating. Although I recognised the name I wasn't sure where I had heard about it and what it was exactly. It soon became clear that it was in fact bibliographic software, and therefore not one of my favourite things. In the past I have used both Endnote and Zotero (finding the latter much easier to get to grips with). I developed a bit of a love-hate relationship with Endnote, recognising it's usefulness but wanting to tear my hair out after another failed attempt to get the bibliography to format properly in Office for Mac.
Mendeley however (like Zotero) has the added benefit that it is free, and ultimately, just looks much more user-friendly than Endnote (which appears quite dated in comparison). I did set up an account, added a few references including journal articles, films and web pages, then imported them into Word and created a bibliography. I was satisfied that I (sort of) knew what I was doing, but I left it at that. If I ever have cause to use bibliographic software though I will probably start with Mendeley this time, rather than wasting my time with Endnote.
If you are interested in comparing the various reference managers available then MIT libraries have produced the following helpful page. I personally have no real call to use bibliographic software at the moment, but simply being aware of its purpose and how it is used, I think is quite valuable to anyone working in an academic library. At least now if someone drops Mendeley into a conversation (why would they?!) I will know what they are talking about.....
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