1) How useful were the pre-course readings?

1: Useful. 2: Helpful -- some I had already read. 3: Somewhat useful before the course -- but very useful as long-term reference sources. 4: Very useful. 5: Very helpful to familiarize myself with the topics to be taught. 6: Fairly useful. Good background but many concepts need to be applied to be fully understood. 7: Very useful, yet not overwhelming. 8: Quite useful. 9: Useful for beginning to get feet wet. 10: They were quite useful. 11: Very, but took on meaning during course. 12: Useful, though most areas were also covered by the course. 13: Quite a good overview/background. 14: Very useful -- it certainly cut down on in-class review and enabled us to move along.

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: Takeaway files and online resources will be heavily used when I go home. 2: Yes -- excellent. 3: Course handouts were apt and useful guides through the hands-on exercises in class. In addition, the instructors provided useful aids for use back home. 4: Extremely so! 5: So much. Particularly, the ones which explained the exercises we did in class step by step. I could always go back to look up the errors I made and compare them with the answers. 6: Yes. Also the "Summary of Resources" (Webpage off course Webpage) is and will continue to be useful. 7: Yes, on both counts. 8: Useful. 9: Extremely useful syllabi, URLs in class, &c. I expect to use these materials in future work in XML and etexts. 10: Completely appropriate, very useful. 11: Yes -- excellent job. 12: Excellent -- particularly sample code and other materials on the Website. 13: Yes, very. 14: Yes, especially the extensive list of Websites and the various text markup tools.

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

1-3: Yes. 4: Absolutely! 5: A bit more difficult in some areas and topics, but generally understandable (manageable). 6: Yes. The instructors were very adept at helping clarify some aspects of XML/DTDS/XSL to various students with varying levels of understanding. 7-8: Yes. 9: The level of the course was totally appropriate. 10-11: Yes. 12: This course was fairly daunting -- a lot covered in quite a short period -- but necessarily so. 13: Yes. It was exactly what I needed to know. 14: Yes, it was just right.

4) What did you like best about the course?

1: Broadening my perspectives on different approaches to electronic text creation and management. Better understanding of the uses of XML. 2: Hands-on approach. 3: Practical, technological work was clearly explained without resort to mere computer terminology and lingo. Good examples enabled the students to evaluate (and appreciate) the potential application of lessons to their own projects. 4: The hands-on experiences/exercises and the great examples that we were able to take with us! 5: The instructors are all well equipped with the skills to articulate the topics well. The handouts (and often Web versions) were well documented (well-written) so that I could follow the arguments. Particularly this year, each day was well organized to understand the scope of the topic. 6: I liked the expertise of the instructors and the students. DS has wonderful amounts of experience and presents information in a way that is exciting and easy to follow. CR is a very good instructor and her handouts are very helpful. MG is wonderfully enthusiastic and approachable. It was also helpful to be able to talk to other students about their experiences with electronic texts and XML. 7: Hands-on exercises and very well integrated coverage of topics. 8: XSLT. DS's discussions. 9: All three instructors were outstanding. Each one knows the material, no matter how technically demanding, thoroughly. A great benefit is that they are not only superb teachers of technology, but are sensitive to the needs of traditional humanistic scholarship. They fully deserved the applause by the class at the end. 10: The opportunity to learn from the people who are pioneering the approach and the "reality check" of being with others who are implementing the techniques. 11: The sequence of learning the XML applications and the grant-writing project management tips. Also, the interaction with fellow attendees and learning about their projects. 12: Three instructors -- I thought this kept the momentum up very well. All of them were enthusiastic, articulate, and informative. Materials provided, as referred to in question two. 13: The instructors were great, and the sample files and handouts will be most helpful. 14: Hands-on activities related to text markup and document transformation. Also, the section on project management and grant writing were great.

5) How could the course have been improved?

1: More coverage on Mac XML tools. 2: N/A. 3: All the material was useful and most was essential, but one week is not a sufficient period to absorb it all. Nonetheless, I don't know what could possibly be cut. So -- how about a two week session? 4: If we could have full luxury -- I would say that it could have been two weeks long and go a bit slower and deeper in some areas (e.g. the Perl parts). 5: I guess particularly with a course like XML, I'd rather read instruction in class on the screen. Occasionally, the blackboard was too small to contain the information that the instructors are trying to produce. 6: If multiple instructors teach this course in the future perhaps schedule three informal topical discussions (one run by each instructor) during lunch -- or on the Lawn from 12:30 to 1:15. Maybe -- Workflows -- setting up software -- working with systems officers, &c. 7: There is much to cover, perhaps a longer course (two weeks) or an advanced course. 8: They could have been more prepared with the files -- there were several files we did not need in the directory we were using, and we also had some incorrect files. 9: A bit more time on DTDs and XSLT would have been superb; but all modules of the course fit together so well that it might be hard to find time to expand any of the modules. 10: Since this is the first time for this course, the approach was a little scattered in our learning "how" to do some of the coding and tagging. But by midweek, we had some concrete examples to follow. Perhaps less initial overview and more "diving in" with the tagging examples would have been better? 12: Possibly some more introductory aspects could be moved to the first course -- but this would depend on students. 13: More time! Would love to see a course devoted to XSLT. 14: We tried to cover a bit too much territory. Perhaps the section on reformatting to Palm, &c. could be made shorter. More time on DTDs would be welcome.

6) If you attended the Sunday and/or Monday night lectures, were they worth attending?

1: Yes. 2: Attended lecture -- yes, worthwhile. 3: Yes. 6: Yes. Sunday night was a nice way to start off the week. The Monday lecture was interesting and the following reception was very enjoyable. 7: Yes. 9: N/A. 10: Definitely. 11: Yes. 12-13: N/A. 14: Yes, both were entertaining.

7) If you attended Study Night, was the time profitably spent?

2: N/A. 3: Yes. 6: Yes. I thoroughly enjoyed a few displays (nice change of pace after being in front of a computer screen during the day). 9-10: N/A. 11: Yes, very interesting. 12-14: N/A.

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

1: I think so! I would return. 2: Yes! 3: 1) This is my second trip to RBS: each time I have found it profitable, affordable, and greatly enjoyable. 2) Take Part One of the course before this one, or come with equivalent experience. 4: Absolutely! It might be nice to put together a book of all the handouts. Also include appendices which would have quick references for XML, XSL, PERL, &c. 5: Yes. 6: Yes. This course is very helpful to those working on XML projects, especially in organizations in which they have little technical support. 7: Very much so! 8: Yes -- it was an excellent course -- wonderful to spend time with others working on similar projects. Advice -- do your advance reading, ask questions during the course, and if the pace is too fast, just ask for the instructors to slow down. 9: Absolutely. This is one of the great new RBS courses. 10: Yes, it was money well-spent. 11: Definitely -- a very good bargain! 12: Certainly. This has been well worthwhile and important to my projects at work. 13: Absolutely! Will pay for itself many times over! 14: I will actively recommend this course to all my colleagues that work with digital resources.

Number of respondents: 14

There were five general librarians with no rare book duties (36%), five teachers or professors (36%), one archivist or manuscript librarian (7%), one general librarian with some rare book duties (7%), one reference archivist (7%), and one digitization librarian (7%).

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