Spreadsheets for Data Management

When dealing with data, you must be consistent during the data entry process to ensure your records are crafted with accuracy and clarity. Now, in an ideal world, data would be entered in the same format every single time with the same values, but that is not always the case. During the exercises from Tidy Data for Librarians, I was able to see not only how data can be misconstrued but also how it can be analyzed for errors and edited for clarity. What I found most useful from these exercises was the helpful tip of having a notes sheet when working so that you can keep track of what you are doing. In the past, I would have a word document open in hopes of keeping track of my information only to later realize I didn’t create a thorough record of my changes. Overall, these were great exercises that enabled me to refresh my Excel skills, and I am now more comfortable setting data validation, retrieving dates, and using color scales to locate errors. For anyone that needs to learn more of the many tools that Excel has to offer, I highly suggest these exercises. While they may target librarians, these are helpful skills for anyone that uses Excel to keep track of data.