{"id":264,"date":"2013-06-24T19:42:14","date_gmt":"2013-06-24T19:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marcedit.reeset.net\/learning_marcedit\/?page_id=264"},"modified":"2016-01-04T18:47:32","modified_gmt":"2016-01-04T18:47:32","slug":"chapter-5-help","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marcedit.reeset.net\/learning_marcedit\/welcome-to-marcedit\/chapter-5-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 5: Help!"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>In this Chapter<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>I&#8217;m new, how do I do\u00a0<em>x?<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong style=\"font-size: 1rem; line-height: 13.991477012634277px;\">How can I find the MarcEdit user community in my area?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong style=\"line-height: 1.714285714; font-size: 1rem;\">How can I give something back to the project?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> Getting started using any new piece of software or tool can be somewhat daunting. \u00a0This can be made even more so if that tool or software is something that may be used for work and isn&#8217;t really supported by your information technology (IT) department at work or is supported by a niche community. \u00a0Well MarcEdit is all of those. \u00a0Very few people are going to download and use MarcEdit for fun (and if they do, I worry for them) and for those that find the program and decide to make it a part of their tool kit, they will likely find very little support within their organization supporting their use of the application. \u00a0Its just one of those things that happens. \u00a0Technical services and metadata creation in general, are niche jobs within the library community. \u00a0At the same time, they are exceptionally important jobs, as nearly all the technology and innovations currently being developed in the library community today assume good metadata practices (or take advantage of the libraries long history of legacy metadata practice).<\/p>\n<p>As library software goes, MarcEdit is pretty widely used. \u00a0As a user community, there are tens of thousands of active users located around the globe. \u00a0However, when compared to mainstream software tools, the MarcEdit user community is pretty small potatoes. \u00a0For users new to the MarcEdit application, this can make it difficult for them to find support or help using the program. \u00a0Fortunately, this is changing. \u00a0Along with myself, a number of individuals within the MarcEdit community are providing workshops and presentations on how to augment workflows and work with more metadata types than ever before. \u00a0The word is spreading, and I hope that is helping bring the user community closer together. \u00a0At the same time, a rich user community has grown up around the application, and users looking for help have more options than ever before. <\/p>\n<h2>I&#8217;m new, how do I do\u00a0<em>x<\/em>?<\/h2>\n<p> When a user first discovers MarcEdit, it&#8217;s usually because they are stuck and looking for a solution to a pretty big problem. \u00a0Whether this issue is due to shelf ready cataloging, provider neutral records, the need to do a large retrospection, or the desire to do research against a large corpus of MARC data &#8212; new users come to MarcEdit with questions. \u00a0So, where does a new MarcEdit user go to get those questions answered? \u00a0Well, funny you should ask. <\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>MarcEdit ListServ (<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/listserv.gmu.edu\/cgi-bin\/wa?SUBED1=marcedit-l&amp;A=1\">https:\/\/listserv.gmu.edu\/cgi-bin\/wa?SUBED1=marcedit-l&amp;A=1<\/a><strong>): <\/strong>The MarcEdit ListServ has become one of the central support hubs for information on MarcEdit. \u00a0It also is a great example of how a community has developed around the application. \u00a0The MarcEdit ListServ was a resource that started organically due to an unmet need within the community. \u00a0Ian\u00a0Fairclough, from George Mason University, worked with his university to setup a listserv on behalf of the community, and in May 2009, the MarcEdit ListServ was born. \u00a0George Mason has continued to host and support both the listserv and the community throughout the years, and the MarcEdit community have likewise joined and provided community support and feedback both to users and the author of the application. \u00a0As of June 2013, the listserv currently has over 1100 subscribers, boasting a searchable archive of questions and answers, as well as an active and knowledgeable community. <\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>MarcEdit Help<\/strong> On install, MarcEdit installs a substantial set of help documentation with the application. \u00a0Covering close to 400 topics, the off-line help documentation provides information related to functionality, APIs, file formats, and tools. \u00a0The help file is one of the most comprehensive help documents for MarcEdit. At the same time, the help document is generally a couple versions behind the present application build. \u00a0At this point, new functionality is being documented on the MarcEdit wiki and being added later to the off-line help files. <\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>Email the Author<\/strong> While I always recommend that users use the MarcEdit ListServ when looking for support, users do have the option of sending queries directly to the author at <a href=\"mailto:reeset@gmail.com\">reeset@gmail.com<\/a>. \u00a0I answer every message that I receive about the application &#8212; though it can sometimes take a day or so. \u00a0Likewise, I encourage users with enhancement or bug requests to send those as well. \u00a0MarcEdit development is largely governed and driven by suggestions from the user community &#8212; so if you see something that can be improved, let someone know.<!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>How can I find the MarcEdit user community in my area?<\/h2>\n<p> That is a fabulous question. \u00a0One of the challenges working with a user community that is so geographically dispersed is that it can be challenging to find other librarians in your area using the application, or, so it would seem. \u00a0At present, there are not mechanisms available for linking users together geographically. \u00a0This is an idea that I periodically consider, as it might provide some interesting educational opportunities, but at this point, no work has been done in this area. \u00a0It&#8217;s my hope, that at some point in the future, users may be able to use the wiki to develop regional user groups that they can then use to share more targeted information.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, finding other MarcEdit users has always been a relatively simple process. \u00a0Because MarcEdit use will be largely concentrated in technical services and metadata services &#8212; users can generally look to their state or regional technical services round-tables and user groups to locate local MarcEdit users. <\/p>\n<h2>How can I give something back to the project?<\/h2>\n<p> Well, you are right now. \u00a0MarcEdit has thrived for close to 13 years due to an active user community that suggests enhancements, answers questions, and spreads the word. \u00a0One of the goals of making this publication available via open access is to encourage users to share, and share liberally, as well as comment and add their own useful comments around a particular piece of the application. \u00a0Additionally, users can comment on the wiki, share their experiences at conferences, or simply show someone struggling with a metadata issue how to make their work a little easier by using the program.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this Chapter I&#8217;m new, how do I do\u00a0x? How can I find the MarcEdit user community in my area? How can I give something back to the project? Getting started using any new piece of software or tool can be somewhat daunting. \u00a0This can be made even more so if that tool or software [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":23,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcedit.reeset.net\/learning_marcedit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/264"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcedit.reeset.net\/learning_marcedit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcedit.reeset.net\/learning_marcedit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcedit.reeset.net\/learning_marcedit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcedit.reeset.net\/learning_marcedit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/marcedit.reeset.net\/learning_marcedit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":327,"href":"https:\/\/marcedit.reeset.net\/learning_marcedit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/264\/revisions\/327"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcedit.reeset.net\/learning_marcedit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcedit.reeset.net\/learning_marcedit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}