Classes
As new Insider's Guide classes are no longer being offered, this site is not currently being updated. Please refer to NCBI's E-utilities documentation for more up-to-date information.
Review our previous class offerings below:
Welcome to E-utilities for PubMed
Description
Want to do more with PubMed?
Want to extract just the PubMed data you need, in the format you want?
Dreaming of creating your own PubMed tool or interface, but don't know where to start?
Join us for an introduction to the Insider's Guide, a program designed to teach you more powerful and flexible ways of accessing NLM data, starting with the essentials of the Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for PubMed and other NCBI databases. The Insider's Guide is geared toward librarians and other information specialists who have experience using PubMed via the traditional Web interface, but now want to dig deeper. This class will start with the very basics of APIs, before showing you how to get started using the E-utilities API to search and retrieve records from PubMed. The class will also showcase some specific tools and utilities that information specialists can use to work with E-utilities, helping to prepare you for subsequent Insider's Guide classes. We will finish by looking at some practical examples of E-utilities in the real world, and hopefully inspire you to get out and put these lessons to use!
Upcoming Offerings
No upcoming offerings of this class are currently scheduled. See below for recordings of previous offerings.
Recordings
Tuesday, February 13, 2018: View recording
Class Materials
The slides, script, sample code and links referenced in this class are available on the Class Materials page.
EDirect for PubMed
Description
This series of interactive workshops will introduce new users to the basics of using EDirect to access exactly the PubMed data you need, in the format you need. Over the course of five 90-minute sessions (plus an optional "office hours"), students will learn how to use EDirect commands in a Unix environment to access PubMed, design custom output formats, create basic data pipelines to get data quickly and efficiently, and develop simple strategies for solving real-world PubMed data-gathering challenges. No prior Unix knowledge is required; novice users are welcome!
This series of classes involves hands-on demonstrations and exercises, as well as homework exercises between sessions. We encourage students to follow along. Before registering for these classes, we strongly recommend that you:
- Be comfortable conducting basic searches in PubMed.
- Watch the first Insider's Guide class "Welcome to E-utilities for PubMed", or be familiar with the basic concepts of APIs and E-utilities.
- Be familiar with structured XML data (basic syntax, elements, attributes, etc.)
- Have access to a Unix command-line environment on your computer (for more information, see our Installing EDirect page).
- Install the EDirect software (for more information, see our Installing EDirect page).
Due to the nature of this class, registration will be limited to 100 students per offering.
Upcoming Offerings
No upcoming offerings of this class are currently scheduled. See below for recordings of previous offerings.
Recordings
March 2018 series:
- Part 1: Getting PubMed Data (March 5, 2018)
- Part 2: Extracting Data from XML (March 8, 2018)
- Part 3: Formatting Results and Unix Tools (March 12, 2018)
- Part 4: xtract Conditional Arguments (March 15, 2018)
- Part 5: Developing and Building Scripts (March 19, 2018)
Class Materials
The handouts, slides, script, sample code and links referenced in each session are available on the Class Materials page.
EDirect Office Hours
Description
Do you have a particular problem you're trying to solve with EDirect, but don't know where to start? Need some expert advice on the best way to extract specific information from NLM databases? Please join us for EDirect Office Hours, an occasional series of interactive webinars! Aimed at intermediate and advanced EDirect users, this hour-long session serves as a forum where you can get your questions answered, meet other members of the EDirect user community, and maybe learn something new about working with EDirect.
Each session begins with a brief presentation on an EDirect feature or topic not covered in any of our previous classes. The rest of the session is all yours! We will answer audience questions, examine some EDirect use cases, and build workable solutions to your problems. If you have a particular problem or question you want addressed, you can send it to us when you register, or just ask about it during class.
This program is designed for intermediate and advanced EDirect users, including those who have completed our "EDirect for PubMed" course. If you are new to E-utilities and EDirect, we encourage you to start with "Welcome to E-utilities for PubMed" or "EDirect for PubMed;" recordings of both of these classes are available now.
Upcoming Offerings
No upcoming offerings of this class are currently scheduled. See below for recordings of previous offerings.
Recordings
- April 2018: Variables in xtract (April 25, 2018)
Class Materials
The slides, script, sample code and links referenced in these sessions are available on the Class Materials page.
Last Reviewed: July 30, 2021