1) How useful were the pre-course readings?

1: Very useful. 2: The pre-course readings were extremely important in understanding the content of the course. 3: Very good. 4: Very good -- the terminology and history were very useful and made it easier to pick up things in class rapidly. 5: Very useful. 6: Useful in that it gave me an introduction to the terminology we encountered, but otherwise they didn't contribute much to the understanding of the course. (They'll be more helpful after the course, I suspect.) 7: Very good for getting an overall feeling for what I was in for. 8: Very useful but at time overwhelming. 9: Great. 10: Yes. Gave some understanding.

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, very. 2: Yes, very useful, especially the online links to other resources. 3: Yes. 4: Yes! Good reference materials with very technical matters explained in English! 5: Appropriate and useful. 6: Yes. 7: Very useful, almost indispensable. 8: Yes. 9: Fabulous. 10: Yes.

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

1: Yes. 2: Yes, appropriate for most everybody with basic knowledge of information structure and computer technologies. My uncle, a life-long barber, however, would have had some difficulty understanding the DTD, XLS, and entire EAD concepts (probably a good thing). 3: Very much so. 4: Yes. A nice stretch for my mind. 5: Very appropriate. 6: Yes. 7: Yes. I felt challenged but not completely at sea. 8: Yes. 9: Just right. 10: Yes.

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

1: Yes. 2-3: N/A. 4: Only if you count "virtual" trips to related websites to show us good reference tools -- but that was helpful. 5: Yes. 6: N/A. 7: One "field trip" to Electronic Text Center -- not enough time spent. 8: Yes. 9: N/A. 10: Yes.

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: Yes. 2: Yes, it was very similar. 3-10: Yes.

6) What did you like best about the course?

1: The hands-on part! Also, the course conveyed not only lots of material, but also very useful insights into the history and development of EAD and the politics of getting support for conversion projects. 2: Making the connection between archives, technical computer languages, and information. 3: I learned a lot about something I know very little about. It was fantastic. 4: The instructor. What could have been very slow and overly technical was instead both fun and fascinating, thanks to his sense of humor (and patience). 5: The instructor's clear presentation. 6: The hands-on aspect of the class -- ie getting to do EAD and see how it worked. 7: EAD is fascinating in itself, but the best part was DP. He is a teacher who loves to teach and loves his work. Patience, sense of humor, knowledge of his subject -- top notch. 8: The actual hands-on experience using something from our own institutions. 9: The instructor's knowledge. Thoroughly acquainted with all aspects of the subject. 10: The instructor was very knowledgeable and quite helpful.

7) How could the course have been improved?

1: Beats me. It was excellent. 2: Perhaps a few more opportunities for questions. 3: A couple times, another person to help with problems, sticky points might have been helpful. 4: He needs help when students are working on their finding aids. Someone to help him proof the student's EAD tags and answer questions. (That is not a criticism -- I just think it might be helpful.) 7: More time spent on style sheets, but then the course would have had to have been longer. Also perhaps some kind of trading around of finding aids to see what other students make of them. 8: Can't think of anything -- it was great as is. 9: No suggestions. 10: It was a lot to digest in one week. More time.

8) We are always concerned about the physical well-being both of the BAP's teaching collections and of materials owned by UVA's Special Collections. If relevant, what suggestions do you have for the improved classroom handling of such materials used in your course this week?

1: I wish there was some way to keep the students from checking their email while the instructor is teaching us -- very distracting. 2-8: N/A. 9: No concerns.

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.).

1: All very enjoyable. 2: The Sunday night dinner was enjoyable and was an excellent way to meet others in my class. I was disappointed by the Bookseller Night as many of the stores were closed. 3:Very good, interesting and enjoyable. Nice to have these things during a week-long course. 4: Both TB and DT gave witty and informative lectures -- good fun! 5: Enjoyed it all! 6: Videos were interesting; Sunday night dinner was a great way to start meeting people, especially those in other courses -- had more time to talk to them than during the breaks. (Did not participate in others.) 7: The only one I was able to come to was the videotape session on Thursday; all sections were interesting, especially the one on linotype operators at the NYT. 8: N/A. 9: Great. No suggestions other than the one about bringing back the second weeknight lecture.

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

1: Go for it! Absolutely worth it. 2: I recommend taking a closer look at the readings before attending. I completed about 75% before arriving and now wished that I could have read all of them. 3: Yes -- this course, I am sure, will prove to be very valuable to me and will result in changing the way we handle and make available collections (archival and manuscripts, &c.). 4: Yup! (Got money's worth.) Do take the course -- not only will you get a solid foundation in EAD (and a good mental workout!) but you'll also have a great time while doing so. 5: Good course to start with. 6: Yes (got my money's worth). 7: Be prepared to concentrate hard throughout, and you will get your money's worth. I did! 8: This course was well worth the time and money and I would have paid out of pocket (if I had money, that is) to attend. 9: DP did a great job. I learned more than I imagined I would. 10: Yes, I got my money's worth.

Number of respondents: 07

There were six archivists/manuscript librarians (60%), two rare book librarians (20%), one techinical metadata specialist working in special collections/archives (10%), and one editor of archival projects/archivist/cataloger (10%).

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