Add contribution and installation guides

docs/gettingstarted.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+Getting Started
+========================================================================================
+
+These pages will help you install and learn the basics of using nested-pandas. If you encounter any issues
+we encourage you to open an issue on the 
+`nested-pandas github repository <https://github.com/lincc-frameworks/nested-pandas/issues>`_.
+
+.. toctree::
+    :maxdepth: 1
+
+    Installing nested-pandas <gettingstarted/installation>
+    Contribution Guide <gettingstarted/contributing>

docs/gettingstarted/contributing.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+Contribution Guide
+==================
+
+Dev Guide - Getting Started
+---------------------------
+
+Download code and install dependencies in a conda environment. Run unit tests at the end as a verification that the packages are properly installed.
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+    conda create -n nested_pandas_env python=3.11
+    conda activate nested_pandas_env
+
+    git clone https://github.com/lincc-frameworks/nested-pandas.git
+    cd nested-pandas/
+    pip install .
+    pip install .[dev]  # it may be necessary to use `pip install .'[dev]'` (with single quotes) depending on your machine.
+
+    pip install pytest
+    pytest

docs/gettingstarted/installation.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+Installation
+============
+
+nested-pandas is available to install with pip, using the "nested-pandas" package name:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+    pip install nested-pandas
+
+
+This will grab the latest release version of nested-pandas from pip.
+
+Advanced Installation
+---------------------
+
+In some cases, installation via pip may not be sufficient. In particular, if you're looking to grab the latest
+development version of nested-pandas, you should instead build 'nested-pandas' from source. The following process downloads the 
+'nested-pandas' source code and installs it and any needed dependencies in a fresh conda environment. 
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+    conda create -n nested_pandas_env python=3.11
+    conda activate nested_pandas_env
+
+    git clone https://github.com/lincc-frameworks/nested-pandas.git
+    cd nested-pandas
+    pip install .
+    pip install .[dev]  # it may be necessary to use `pip install .'[dev]'` (with single quotes) depending on your machine.
+
+The ``pip install .[dev]`` command is optional, and installs dependencies needed to run the unit tests and build
+the documentation. The latest source version of nested-pandas may be less stable than a release, and so we recommend 
+running the unit test suite to verify that your local install is performing as expected.
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+    pip install pytest
+    pytest

docs/index.rst

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
    You can adapt this file completely to your liking, but it should at least
    contain the root `toctree` directive.
 
-Welcome to nested_pandas's documentation!
+Welcome to nested-pandas's documentation!
 ========================================================================================
 
 Dev Guide - Getting Started
@@ -46,5 +46,6 @@ Notes:
    :hidden:
 
    Home page <self>
+   Getting Started <gettingstarted>
    API Reference <autoapi/index>
    Notebooks <notebooks>