Betsy Appleton
St. Edward’s University
Austin, TX
Functional Excel Functions for E-
Resources
Coincidence? (Yes)
30 Years of Excel 30 Years of NASIG
Excel for Macintosh Screenshot ca. 1986, Microsoft
Sweden,
https://www.flickr.com/photos/microsoftsweden/539468
5465, Screenshot of Excel 2010 taken May 21, 2015.
Screenshot of Early NASIG Logo,
https://web.archive.org/web/19991008080633/http://www.n
asig.org/, Current NASIG Logo from
http://www.nasig.org/site_page.cfm?pk_association_webpa
ge_menu=308&pk_association_webpage=1181
Agenda
 Assume there’s a better way
 Favorite Formulas and Functions
Assume there is a better way
Favorite Formulas and Functions
 IF, SUMIF, COUNTIF
=SUMIF(range, criteria, [sum_range])=COUNTIF(Range, Criteria)
Favorite Formulas and Functions
 Sparklines- New in Excel 2010 (Data tab of the
Ribbon)
5 year
trend- Use
2011/
2012
2012/2
013
2013/
2014 2011 2012 2013 2014
17% -1% 3% $0.69 $0.63 $0.73 $0.76
22% -4% 41% $3.23 $2.84 $3.16 $2.40
5 year trend- C/U
Favorite Formulas and Functions
 CONCATENATE, Text to Columns
 LEFT, RIGHT, MID
“If Only I had known three hours
ago…”

Snapshot: Functional Excel Functions for E-Resources

  • 1.
    Betsy Appleton St. Edward’sUniversity Austin, TX Functional Excel Functions for E- Resources
  • 2.
    Coincidence? (Yes) 30 Yearsof Excel 30 Years of NASIG Excel for Macintosh Screenshot ca. 1986, Microsoft Sweden, https://www.flickr.com/photos/microsoftsweden/539468 5465, Screenshot of Excel 2010 taken May 21, 2015. Screenshot of Early NASIG Logo, https://web.archive.org/web/19991008080633/http://www.n asig.org/, Current NASIG Logo from http://www.nasig.org/site_page.cfm?pk_association_webpa ge_menu=308&pk_association_webpage=1181
  • 3.
    Agenda  Assume there’sa better way  Favorite Formulas and Functions
  • 4.
    Assume there isa better way
  • 5.
    Favorite Formulas andFunctions  IF, SUMIF, COUNTIF =SUMIF(range, criteria, [sum_range])=COUNTIF(Range, Criteria)
  • 6.
    Favorite Formulas andFunctions  Sparklines- New in Excel 2010 (Data tab of the Ribbon) 5 year trend- Use 2011/ 2012 2012/2 013 2013/ 2014 2011 2012 2013 2014 17% -1% 3% $0.69 $0.63 $0.73 $0.76 22% -4% 41% $3.23 $2.84 $3.16 $2.40 5 year trend- C/U
  • 7.
    Favorite Formulas andFunctions  CONCATENATE, Text to Columns  LEFT, RIGHT, MID
  • 8.
    “If Only Ihad known three hours ago…”

Editor's Notes

  • #3 I didn’t realize this Snapshot Session fit so well with the theme of the conference this year—ran across that Excel was first released in 1985 too. Also, this may be the most interesting slide for any of you that are seasoned Excel users, or those of you who have more comprehensive Excel training.
  • #5 This is how I learn Excel. Someone has wanted to do that thing you want to do already, and the answer is just about instantly accessible.
  • #6 SumIF and CountIF have the same basic structure: take a look at a column (range). If the criteria exists in the column, total or count every corresponding figure in another column/range. I’ve use these primarily for expressing data divided by fundlines, like budget estimates or totals expended, or number of titles purchased, etc.
  • #7 Sparklines: these were new in Excel 2010 (and therefore new to me at my new job since old job still had 2007). They are nice for showing at-a-glance trends. I discovered them via our usage metrics spreadsheets prepared by my predecessor. Each of our databases listed in our database usage metrics spreadsheet has a sparkline showing the five-year trend in cost per use.
  • #8 Concatenate and Text-to-Columns are useful for manipulating data that perhaps didn’t export to Excel quite the way you hoped, or if you inherited data that you would like to use in a new way, but can’t quite do so because the piece of data you really want to manipulate has extra data that disallows manipulation. Concatenate will put the data from two cells into one, and Text-to-Columns will break one cell into many. Here are some examples:
  • #9 These are my most recent Excel finds: New job = new responsibilities = new needs for data manipulation. I’m importing a lot more from a new-to-me ILS (III Millennium), and was having some major issues with non-Roman characters. Couldn’t figure out what was going on…until I saw the character encoding selection in text import wizard. Excel’s default is not useful for 37,000 rows of holdings data… Custom autofilters: were really useful in enabling me to quickly do some data cleanup. I discovered the presence of a semi-colon in certain columns was indicative of something that didn’t import correctly that needed editing/a closer look.