IMPORTANT NOTE: This is the package formerly known as biblatex-chicago-notes-df. It is intended for use only with the latest version of biblatex -- 1.7 is current. If you have used the package before, then you should be sure to consult the RELEASE file to find out what alterations you may need to make to your .bib files and document preambles to bring them up to date. Most particularly please note that Biber 0.9.6 is now required for the author-date style, and indeed for the notes & bibliography style if you choose to use Biber with it. README (version 0.9.8d, 2011-11-15): Biblatex-chicago contains two biblatex styles implementing the specifications of the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition. (If you are interested in adopting the changes introduced in the 16th edition, published last fall, then please note that the next release of biblatex-chicago will provide what you need.) The "notes & bibliography" style was formerly available in the package biblatex-chicago-notes-df, and is intended primarily for writers in the humanities, whereas the "author-date" style is generally favored by writers in the sciences and social sciences. This is a beta release, but its feature set is already fairly extensive. If you have used the package before you may, after perusing the RELEASE file, want to look at the changelog at the end of biblatex-chicago.pdf, which contains cross-references to more detailed explanations about how this update will affect parts of your .bib file. If you are just getting started, the best way to learn the system is to read the documentation in that same pdf file, which contains both a Quickstart section and a complete reference guide to both styles (sections 4 and 5). The package also contains annotated .bib files (notes-test.bib and dates-test.bib) which each offer over 100 entries demonstrating how to present a wide range of sources, nearly all of them taken from the Chicago Manual of Style itself, so that you can compare the output of your system (cms-notes-sample.tex, cms-dates-sample.tex) or my system (cms-notes-sample.pdf, cms-dates-sample.pdf) with the actual examples in the Manual. I have, wherever possible, attempted to maintain backward compatibility with the standard biblatex styles, but there are a significant number of situations where I have been unable to do so, which means that switching among various styles while using the same bibliography database will not be as simple and painless as it could be. If you can see ways better to preserve this compatibility, or indeed to improve the package in any way whatsoever, please let me know, or better yet, send a patch. As the author-date style is relatively new, now is the time to suggest changes in field or entry-type usage there, before questions of backward compatibility become more pressing. If the styles don't behave as you expect or if you discover a bug, I'd be very happy to hear about it, but do please read biblatex-chicago.pdf first, as you may find that your question has already been answered there. If you do find a bug, please send me the .bib entry, your LaTeX preamble, and your output .log, so that I can try to reproduce it here. My email address is at the head of biblatex-chicago.pdf. Installation: With the recent proliferation of files, I have thought it best to implement, with this release, a different directory structure for the package archive. I have adopted the structure found in biblatex.zip, so if you want to place these files in your TeX directory tree instead of in your working directory, I recommend the following, which should be familiar from the main biblatex package: - The nine files biblatex-chicago.sty, chicago-notes.cbx, chicago-notes.bbx, chicago-authordate.cbx, chicago-authordate.bbx, cms-american.lbx, cms-french.lbx, cms-german.lbx, and cms-ngerman.lbx are located in the latex/ subdirectory, itself further subdivided into bbx/, cbx/, and lbx/. The entire contents of this latex/ directory, including its subdirectories, can go in /tex/latex/biblatex-contrib/biblatex-chicago, where is the root of your local TeX installation -- for example, and depending on your system, /usr/share/texmf-local, /usr/local/texmf, or C:\Local TeX Files\. You may need to create this directory first, and after copying the files there please remember to update your TeX file name database so that TeX can find them. - The eight files biblatex-chicago.tex, biblatex-chicago.pdf, cms-notes-sample.tex, cms-dates-sample.tex, cms-notes-sample.pdf, cms-dates.sample.pdf, notes-test.bib, and dates-test.bib can all be found in the doc/ directory in the package archive, the last 6 in the examples/ subdirectory. You can place all of this in /doc/latex/biblatex-contrib/biblatex-chicago. Changelog: See the RELEASE file, and also the end of biblatex-chicago.pdf. Copyright (c) 2008-2011 David Fussner. This package is author-maintained. This work may be copied, distributed and/or modified under the conditions of the LaTeX Project Public License, either version 1.3 of this license or (at your option) any later version. The latest version of this license is in http://www.latex-project.org/lppl.txt and version 1.3 or later is part of all distributions of LaTeX version 2005/12/01 or later. This software is provided "as is," without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.