RStudio has a tab dedicated to R packages and their management. Here you can see what packages are installed in your library(s) and which ones are in use. Packages can be ‘loaded’ and ‘unloaded’ using the check box on the left hand side. You can also ‘click’ on the package name to load a help section dedicated to that package (includes pdf manual, vignettes, and lists of functions/examples). Packages can also be updated from this tab by selecting the “Check for Updates” button.
In Windows, RStudio also gives you the option of creating a separate library in your user account directory (usually something like: “C:\Users\username\Documents\R\win-library\2.15”). This will become the default location for packages to be installed and mitigates many issues that arise when using R on a system that you haven’t got admin/root privileges on.
We will explore using the library and packages in more detail in the next section.