1) How useful were the pre-course readings?

1: Very useful -- good conceptual basis. 2: Very; could have used more, however. 3: While not necessarily "readable," they were certainly helpful. 4: Good. 5: Very useful. Although I only understood about 50% of the readings, they prepared me for the type of things to expect. They put me in the right frame of mind to begin the course. 6: Quite. 7: Very useful (well, it was a direct relation to how much time you spent reading them). 8: Readings were adequate in providing a foundation of knowledge to the issues covered in the class. 9: Quite useful. 10: Very useful. 11: Very useful! 12: I found many of the pre-course readings to be intimidating. They were very technical and I had no prior knowledge of EAD. I will definitely go back and reread them.

2) Were the course syllabus and other materials distributed in class useful (or will they be so in the future, after you return home)?

1: Yes -- I very much appreciate the free software and other tools that I'm going home with. These tools will make it much easier to understand and implement EAD. 2: Yes. 3: Yes, not only these materials, but the software as well. 4: Yes. 5: Yes. Without them, I would be unable to put into practice what I have learned. 6: Yes to both. 7: Definitely. 8: Yes -- bibliography and on-line resources will be extremely useful and frequently referenced after class. 9: Yes. 10: The information and related software will be very applicable to current projects. 11: Yes! 12: I used the workbook frequently as a reference in class and think that it will be very handy when I begin marking my own finding aids.

3) Was the intellectual level of the course content appropriate?

1: Very much so -- excellent mix of theory and practice. I especially enjoyed the anecdotes about the creation of EAD -- it helped demystify the markup scheme. 2: Yes -- but it would have been useful if we had moved forward from the reading list, rather than reviewing its contents (perhaps assumption is that many do not have time to do the reading?) 3: Yes, DP tailored the course to accommodate a wide range of levels of expertise and diverse backgrounds. 4-6: Yes. 7: Definitely. 8: Yes on the most part. There was some imbalance on the technical side. 9-10: Yes. 11: Yes! 12: Yes. I liked the introductory cookie exercise and the end class discussion in particular.

4) If your course had field trips, were they effective?

1: No field trips. Perhaps we could have made a "virtual field trip" to see how a few institutions are implementing DTD, noting selection, display, searchability, &c.

5) Did the actual course content correspond to its RBS brochure description and Expanded Course Description (ECD)? Did the course in general meet your expectations?

1-11: Yes. 12: Yes. I was very satisfied.

6) What did you like best about the course?

1: As I've already said, I very much appreciated the intellectual history of EAD, which helped me understand why things are the way that they are and how they might be made better. Good movement from lecture to practice to implementation in the instruction. And DP kept the students engaged through his real world examples, good bad metaphors, and wry sense of humor. 2: Application of principles introduced in the literature. 3: DP is an excellent instructor. 4: That DP is so knowledgeable. Actually doing the finding aid -- frustrating but intellectually fun and interesting. Meeting the others in this class and RBS other classes. 5: I liked the fact that we were not simply taught a skill, but were given a context within which to understand it. Also, the instructor had a great attitude -- his sense of humor made the subject enjoyable. 6: Discussion and hands-on (guided) experience. 7: I feel I learned enough encoding to return to work and continue using it. 8: Encoding, meaning, the ability to implement what we were learning. 9: The opportunity to do extensive hands-on encoding. 10: The instructor was great: knowledgeable and personable. He gave explanations that were clear and concise. 11: Very clear presentation of a difficult technical topic! 12: I liked that I had the opportunity to apply EAD to a typical finding aid from my institution and see what worked and what would not work.

7) How could the course have been improved?

1: Hmm. My comments here would be small and fairly reflective of my own interests. Perhaps in the first two days of the course, there could have been more hands-on exercises to break up the time and to reinforce key concepts -- that is, after explaining the EAD header, DP could have asked us to do one (instead of marking up the document as a whole). I would have liked to learn more about XSL as well. 2: Fewer breaks! I'd have preferred to spend more time "on" -- or have the computer lab open after hours, for additional experimentation, exploration. And, as above, I'd have preferred to jump straight to work ... eg syllabus from Wednesday on. 3: It may have helped if DT had circulated amongst the students on a regular basis while they were marking up documents. 4: Get DP an assistant for the last 2 days! (Too many questions -- too little time.) Have a night (a couple of nights!) where EAD students can work in the electronic classroom after 5 (Wednesday and Thursday). 5: Fewer participants would be a big help. If this is not possible, then the instructor needs to find a way to interact with participants more equitably. Individual attention tended to be focused more on some students than on others, even though we were all beginners in need of assistance. 6: All concerned (including class members -- perhaps especially class members) could be more resolute about keeping discussion and questions focused on EAD rather than on general issues of archival practice. 7: I think DP did a good job of balancing the theoretical issues and the skills needed to use EAD. It's a difficult balance to strike -- and an essential one. 8: This course worked well in the allotted time, perhaps an advanced or second level course in EAD? 9: Tuesday's class, in which we went over the EAD structure, was very overwhelming and rather dull in that we just looked over every major tag in its turn. I think perhaps if we had gone over them while looking at or encoding their respective sections on a finding aid -- it may have been more effective and engaging. 10: Perhaps a few more tagging examples in the handout to show some possible variations of finding aids. 11: DP needs a T.A. 12: Make it longer? An assistant for DP would also be helpful.

9) Please comment on the quality/enjoyability of the various RBS activities in which you took part outside of class (eg Sunday afternoon tour, Sunday night dinner, evening lectures, Bookseller Night, Video Night, Study Night, tour of the Alderman digital/electronic centers, printing demonstrations, &c.).

2: I enjoyed all of the activities/lectures, but would have appreciated an intro to the Alderman Etext Center. 3: Sunday dinner is a great way to meet people, and TB's lecture is a good introduction to the BAP. Bookseller Night is nice -- did people miss the absence of the vans? Extended hours at the Rotunda gave people a chance to peruse the exhibit and collection. 4: Fine [Sunday night dinner]. Didn't go [Bookseller Night and Study Night]. Fair [Video Night]. 5: I confess that I didn't go to all of them. The video was a little less than compelling. I wish there had been something for archivists. 7: Unfortunately, I missed a few activities because of travel problems, but Study Night was a real highlight and I enjoyed visiting the local booksellers. 8: Activities were fun and a good way to meet students attending other courses in this session as well as a good way to meet the other instructors. 9: I did not attend any of them. I think that after spending 8 hours per day immersed in library-related intensive study the last thing folks would want is to spend their free time immersed in more of the same. There is a very nice movie theater downtown; why not publicize that as an alternative? Or host a non-library-related movie night on campus? 10: Sunday night dinner and talk was a good way to meet everyone and start the week.

10) Any final thoughts? Did you get your money's worth?

1: A rare opportunity to learn EAD (and much more -- DTD development, XML, XSL, project management, &c.) From one of its key developers. 2: Great course -- too short, but absolutely absorbing -- wish I had more time to devote to this kind of "work"! (Coffee, rather than soft drinks, would have been nice in the afternoon.) 3: Strongly recommended, and yes! 4: Yes!! [got my money's worth.] 5: I feel that I did get my money's worth. I am certainly no expert in EAD, but I feel that I can jump right in and start encoding. Of course, it helps that others at my institution have already taken this course. I would be a little apprehensive if I didn't have others to rely on at home. This is no reflection on the course -- only on the amount of time that I had to become comfortable with the material. 6: Study one's finding aid in advance. Yes [got my money's worth]. 7: Definitely take it. 8: Well worth the money. Good introductory course to encoding at its most basic level. Also received some good information on how to consider implementing an EAD program at our home institutions. 9: I believe that I got my money's worth. My advice to others would be: stay in a hotel, come during the winter session unless you enjoy Equatorial-style weather. 10: Excellent course. Very practical. Yes [got my money's worth]. 11: Highly recommend RBS and the EAD course. Would like all of the Smithsonian Institution archivists to attend!

Number of respondents: 12

There were 7 archivist/manuscript librarians (58%), 1 general librarian with no rb duties, 1 digital projects person, 1 consulting historian on a digitization project, 1 SC head and 1 library systems support person (8.33% each).

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