Library Association of Singapore

June 11-12 2019

9:00 am - 4:30 pm

Instructors: Janice Chan, Anton Angelo

Helpers: Chew Shu Wen, Dong Danping, Lavanya Asokan, Malar Thomas, Schusie Sun Guangyuan

General Information

Library Carpentry is made by people working in library- and information-related roles to help you:

Library Carpentry introduces you to the fundamentals of computing and provides you with a platform for further self-directed learning. For more information on what we teach and why, please see our paper "Library Carpentry: software skills training for library professionals".

Who: The course is for people working in library- and information-related roles. You don't need to have any previous knowledge of the tools that will be presented at the workshop.

Where: Tutorial Room + 14 - LHN
The Arc - Learning Hub North (LHN) LHN-02-18 (click here for NTU campus map for this address)
(next to Lee Wee Nam Library)
Nanyang Technological University
63 Nanyang Drive
Singapore 636922 . Get directions with OpenStreetMap or Google Maps.

When: June 11-12 2019. Add to your Google Calendar.

Requirements: Participants must bring a laptop with a Mac, Linux, or Windows operating system (not a tablet, Chromebook, etc.) that they have administrative privileges on. They should have a few specific software packages installed (listed below).

Code of Conduct: Everyone who participates in Carpentries activities is required to conform to the Code of Conduct. This document also outlines how to report an incident if needed.

Accessibility: We are committed to making this workshop accessible to everybody. The workshop organizers have checked that:

Materials will be provided in advance of the workshop and large-print handouts are available if needed by notifying the organizers in advance. If we can help making learning easier for you (e.g. sign-language interpreters, lactation facilities) please get in touch (using contact details below) and we will attempt to provide them.

Contact: Please email anton.angelo@canterbury.ac.nz , training@las.org.sg or janice.chan@curtin.edu.au for more information.

Surveys

Please be sure to complete these surveys before and after the workshop.

Pre-workshop Survey

Post-workshop Survey

Schedule

Day 1

09:00 Data Intro for Librarians
10:30 Morning break
12:00 Lunch break
13:00 OpenRefine
14:30 Afternoon break
16:00 Wrap-up
16:30 END

Day 2

09:00 Tidy Data
10:30 Morning break
12:00 Lunch break
13:00 Followup and Requests
14:30 Afternoon break
16:00 Wrap-up
16:30 END

We will use this collaborative document for chatting, taking notes, and sharing URLs and bits of code.

Syllabus

Introduction to Data

  • Intro to data
  • Jargon busting
  • Keyboard shortcuts
  • Plain text formats
  • Naming files
  • Regular expressions
  • Reference...

OpenRefine

  • Introduction to OpenRefine
  • Importing data
  • Basic functions
  • Advanced Functions
  • Reference...

Tidy Data for Librarians

  • What are good data practices?
  • How should data tables be formatted in spreadsheets?
  • What common mistakes are made when formatting spreadsheets?
  • How are dates handled by computers?
  • Can you keep data clean and sane?
  • What problems are there with Excel files?
  • What do you need to be aware of when exporting data?
  • Reference...

Follow Up and Requests

  • If you have any questions, or want to work with your own projects with the instructors, this is your time.

Setup

To participate in a Library Carpentry workshop, you will need access to the software described below. In addition, you will need an up-to-date web browser.

We maintain a list of common issues that occur during installation as a reference for instructors that may be useful on the Configuration Problems and Solutions wiki page.

OpenRefine

For this lesson you will need OpenRefine and a web browser. Note: this is a Java program that runs on your machine (not in the cloud). It runs inside a web browser, but no web connection is needed.

Check that you have either the Firefox or the Chrome browser installed and set as your default browser. OpenRefine runs in your default browser. It will not run correctly in Internet Explorer.

Download software from http://openrefine.org/

Create a new directory called OpenRefine.

Unzip the downloaded file into the OpenRefine directory by right-clicking and selecting "Extract ...".

Go to your newly created OpenRefine directory.

Launch OpenRefine by clicking openrefine.exe (this will launch a command prompt window, but you can ignore that - just wait for OpenRefine to open in the browser).

If you are using a different browser, or if OpenRefine does not automatically open for you, point your browser at http://127.0.0.1:3333/ or http://localhost:3333 to use the program.

Check that you have either the Firefox or the Chrome browser installed and set as your default browser. OpenRefine runs in your default browser. It may not run correctly in Safari.

Download software from http://openrefine.org/.

Create a new directory called OpenRefine.

Unzip the downloaded file into the OpenRefine directory by double-clicking it.

Go to your newly created OpenRefine directory.

Launch OpenRefine by dragging the icon into the Applications folder.

Use Ctrl-click/Open ... to launch it.

If you are using a different browser, or if OpenRefine does not automatically open for you, point your browser at http://127.0.0.1:3333/ or http://localhost:3333 to use the program.

Check that you have either the Firefox or the Chrome browser installed and set as your default browser. OpenRefine runs in your default browser.

Download software from http://openrefine.org/.

Make a directory called OpenRefine.

Unzip the downloaded file into the OpenRefine directory.

Go to your newly created OpenRefine directory.

Launch OpenRefine by entering ./refine into the terminal within the OpenRefine directory.

If you are using a different browser, or if OpenRefine does not automatically open for you, point your browser at http://127.0.0.1:3333/ or http://localhost:3333 to use the program.

Tidy Data for Librarians

Spreadsheets are useful for data entry and data organization, and some subsetting and sorting of the data as well as getting an overview of the data. To interact with spreadsheets, we can use LibreOffice, Microsoft Excel, Gnumeric, OpenOffice.org, or other programs. Commands may differ a bit between programs, but general ideas for thinking about spreadsheets is the same.

For this lesson, if you don’t have a spreadsheet program already, you can use LibreOffice. It’s a free, open source spreadsheet program.

Windows

  • Download the Installer
    Install LibreOffice by going to the installation page. The version for Windows should automatically be selected. Click Download Version 4.4.2. You will go to a page that asks about a donation, but you don’t need to make one. Your download should begin automatically.
  • Install LibreOffice
    Once the installer is downloaded, double click on it and it should install.

Mac OS X

  • Download the Installer
    Install LibreOffice by going to the installation page. The version for Mac OS X should automatically be selected. Click Download Version 4.4.2. You will go to a page that asks about a donation, but you don’t need to make one. Your download should begin automatically.
  • Install LibreOffice
    The file LibreOffice_4.4.2_MacOS_x86-64 should have been downloaded. Double click on this file, and LibreOffice will be installed.

Linux

  • Download the Installer
    Install LibreOffice by going to the installation page. The version for Linux should automatically be selected. Click Download Version 4.4.2. You will go to a page that asks about a donation, but you don’t need to make one. Your download should begin automatically.
  • Install LibreOffice
    Once the installer is downloaded, double click on it and it should install.