MarcEdit Workshop

University of Minnesota

Online

June 6-7, 2024

1:00 pm - 2:30 pm CST

Instructors: Elissah Becknell, Stacie Traill

Helpers: Sara Ring, Tina Gross, David Palmquist

General Information

The Carpentries project comprises the Software Carpentry, Data Carpentry, and Library Carpentry communities of Instructors, Trainers, Maintainers, helpers, and supporters who share a mission to teach foundational computational and data science skills to researchers.

Want to learn more and stay engaged with The Carpentries? Carpentries Clippings is The Carpentries' biweekly newsletter, where we share community news, community job postings, and more. Sign up to receive future editions and read our full archive: https://carpentries.org/newsletter/

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".

This is a pilot workshop, testing out a lesson that is still under development. The lesson authors would appreciate any feedback you can give them about the lesson content and suggestions for how it could be further improved.

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: This training will take place online. The instructors will provide you with the information you will need to connect to this meeting.

When: June 6-7, 2024.

Requirements: Participants must have access to a computer 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).

Accessibility: We are dedicated to providing a positive and accessible learning environment for all. We do not require participants to provide documentation of disabilities or disclose any unnecessary personal information. However, we do want to help create an inclusive, accessible experience for all participants. We encourage you to share any information that would be helpful to make your Carpentries experience accessible. To request an accommodation for this workshop, please fill out the accommodation request form. If you have questions or need assistance with the accommodation form please email us.

Contact: Please email ejbeck@umn.edu or chennesy@umn.edu for more information.

Roles: To learn more about the roles at the workshop (who will be doing what), refer to our Workshop FAQ.


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.


Surveys

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

Pre-workshop Survey

Post-workshop Survey


Schedule


Setup

To participate in a Library Carpentry workshop, you will need access to software as 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.

Install the videoconferencing client

If you haven't used Zoom before, go to the official website to download and install the Zoom client for your computer.

Set up your workspace

Like other Carpentries workshops, you will be learning by "coding along" with the Instructors. To do this, you will need to have both the window for the tool you will be learning about (a terminal, RStudio, your web browser, etc..) and the window for the Zoom video conference client open. In order to see both at once, we recommend using one of the following set up options:

This blog post includes detailed information on how to set up your screen to follow along during the workshop.

Getting Ready

You need to install the latest version of MarcEdit and download a data file to follow this lesson. If you are using an older version of MarcEdit, it is recommended you upgrade to the latest version which may be beyond what was tested for this lesson.

Downloading MarcEdit

MarcEdit is a free, open-source application. You can download MarcEdit from https://marcedit.reeset.net/downloads. This lesson has been tested with the following versions: MarcEdit 7 (specifically 7.6.3) for Windows and MarcEdit 3 for MacOS. It should be highlighted that MarcEdit is frequently updated and these instructions might have been tested on a slightly earlier version.

Plug-Ins and Packages

Packages, along with associated system requirements, are available on https://marcedit.reeset.net/downloads for Windows and MacOS.

System Requirements for Mac and Windows

System requirements for MarcEdit 7/MarcEdit MacOS 3 https://marcedit.reeset.net/downloads:

Determining if your system is 32 or 64-bit

Installing MarcEdit On Windows - Video

For Windows, select Windows Build Options -> Download MarcEdit 7.5 (All Users). The Windows User Only Installation should work for the majority of participants. If you will be using a communal computer, and expect MarcEdit to be used by a number of users on that machine, read through the "Windows Build Options" pop-up to decide the best installation option for you. You can also view this video tutorial for this type of advanced installation called the consolidated option.

Notes for Windows users

Installing MarcEdit on Mac - Video

For MacOS, select "MacOs". Unzip the package and follow the MacOS instructions.

Running MarcEdit for the First Time: The Setup Wizard - Video

After downloading MarcEdit and once you launch the installation the first time, you will be asked to go through the setup wizard. This wizard will ask you to configure the default font, font size, and recommended theme. The wizard will then ask you to configure the MARC standard and file standard being used.

Downloading the data

For this lesson, you need to download our sample file from the Library Carpentries MarcEdit GitHub repository. Go to the GitHub page to download the sample data file called marc_sample_data.mrc. Then, click the download button on the right hand side. This MARC file follows the MARC21 standard and is encoded in UTF-8.

Getting help

Installation video demostrations are available for all users https://youtu.be/FX0r7jIxeN4.

If you encounter problems installing or running MarcEdit, a good source of support is the MarcEdit mailing list and user forum. You can also fill out the Help Form. Include your operating system when searching to find the most relevant answers for your issue.

You may also want to check the Videos or the MarcEdit Knowledge Base.