Library Carpentry: Tidy Data for Librarians (Spreadsheets)

11 Mar 2021, 09:30 – 12:00

This workshop is designed for those interested in working with library data in spreadsheets.

Topics covered:

Using spreadsheet programs for data wrangling
Formatting data tables in spreadsheets
Formatting problems
Dates as data
Basic quality assurance, control, and data manipulation
Exporting data
Caveats of popular data and file formats

Requirements: Please bring a laptop with a Mac, Linux, or Windows operating system (not a tablet, Chromebook, etc.) that you have administrative privileges on. Please make sure that your web browser is up to date.

To interact with spreadsheets, you can use LibreOffice, Microsoft Excel, Gnumeric, OpenOffice.org, or other programs; you can use your preferred program for this workshop. If you don’t have a spreadsheet program already, you can use LibreOffice - a free, open-source spreadsheet program. .

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This workshop is part of a programme of Library Carpentry workshops.

Library Carpentry will introduce you to the fundamentals of computing and provide you with a platform for further self-directed learning. You can choose to attend the full programme of workshops, or to participate only in workshops that are useful to you (workshops will be advertised individually).

The programme focuses on building software and data skills within library and information-related communities, and aims to help you to:

automate repetitive, boring, error-prone tasks
create, maintain and analyse sustainable and reusable data
work effectively with IT and systems colleagues
better understand the use of software in research
and much more

Previous knowledge of the tools to be presented at sessions is not required.

Full programme outline:

Introduction to Working with Data (Regular Expressions)
Tidy Data for Librarians
OpenRefine
The UNIX Shell
Introduction to Python for Libraries
Introduction to R for Libraries

Click here for more information about the Library Carpentry programme.

Due to high demand for our training events, our cancellation and no-show policy applies to bookings for this event. Click here for details of this policy