1) How useful were the pre-course readings?

1: Very. 2: Very useful. They gave me a conceptual understanding of XML and XSLT prior to attending. 3: Very useful. 4: Extremely. They enabled me to be prepared for the class and to pick things up more quickly, thereby enabling me and the rest of the class to cover more material. Had it not been for the readings, we could never have covered all that we did. 5: Course readings were valuable in providing an introduction to the content of the class. 6: Pre-course readings were well chosen and very worthwhile. 7: Very useful. The pre-course readings will continue to be a great resource when I return to my institution. 8: Quite useful. 9: Very useful and informative.

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. 2: Yes. The many examples will be very helpful when developing XSLT stylesheets. 3: Yes. 4: Very much so. 5: Definitely yes. DP provided a set of tools that will allow us to immediately implement what we learned here. 6: Class materials were appropriate and will be very useful after the fact. 7: Yes. 8: Absolutely -- the software set up will be especially useful. 9: Yes.

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

1: Yes. 2: Yes. It was quite challenging. 3: Yes. 4: I found the intellectual level challenging -- but a challenge I discovered I was able to meet. While the teacher did cover a great deal of ground beyond the basics, the information I learned will be invaluable in developing publishing tools in my home institution. 5-7: Yes. 8: Yes -- DP was very willing to take questions and pause for clarification. 9: Yes.

4) What did you like best about the course?

1: The instructor. I felt honored to be taught by him, and was constantly amazed by his ability to perceive the questions behind the questions we were asking him. He was equally attentive to all ability levels, and made a very difficult subject accessible through his wide range of creative analogies and his sense of humor. The small size of the class was advantageous. 2: The hands-on exercises. Seeing it actually work! 3: DP -- he is a treasure! His enthusiasm and inquisitiveness is contagious. He is accessible and humble which contributes to a general feeling that we can learn the material! 4: The challenge and the ability to expand my intellectual and professional horizons. It was also wonderful to work with DP. He is a teacher who truly and visibly cares about the material and his students. 5: It was at the same time theoretical and very practical. We learned skills, tips, and tricks, but also the big picture. 6: The course included a good mix of detailed instruction in EAD processing with XSLT along with higher level perspectives about Finding Aid publishing, platforms, and related trends. 7: The depth of the material covered and the great resources available to take home-software, stylesheets, bibliography, &c. 8: I particularly liked DP's teaching style -- funny and very full of (relevant) stories, approachable, and flexible. I also found the hands-on exercises quite useful. 9: The hands-on experience of created XSL stylesheets with an experienced creator to resolve problems.

5) How could the course have been improved?

2: More hands-on time. 3: There could have been a little more hands-on -- and trouble-shooting activities. But given the amount of material we covered, I think the time was appropriately partitioned. This class really could use two weeks instead of one. But I am sure my institution would not have supported sending me to a two week class. So it will probably always be a bit crammed in material. 4: The pace of this course is good for some; it might be good to have a two week course (or one week on XSLT only) for those wanting more hands-on. I however would rather have a class like this. 5: Possibly with more time for hands-on practice. 7: It would be wonderful if some structured time could be set aside for a class discussion of personal encounters or problems. The majority of this was after or between class causing students to miss some or all of the conversation. 8: I would have added a brief overview of essential XSL elements, how they work, and when they're used. I gained this knowledge through much exposure to examples, but a quick overview might have been helpful. More hands-on work might also have helped to make the ideas more concrete, particularly with the trickier parts of XSL. 9: Not being the typical student for this class, the thing for me would have been less theory/examination of EAD, but most students would want that.

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

1: Yes. 2: They were both interesting, but they were not applicable to my field of work. 3: I did not attend. 4: Yes they were. 5: This week, the Monday lecture seemed to be a continuation of the Sunday lecture. I was expecting to hear more about Margaret Armstrong, but it was still worth attending both. 6: N/A. 7: Yes. 8: Yep. 9: N/A.

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

1: Yes. 2: N/A. 3: I did not attend. 6, 8-9: N/A.

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

1: Yes. I think the class was valuable for both the novices and the experts, but the more prepared you are, the better. 2: Yes. 3: YES YES YES! Be Bold! This is difficult material to learn, but DP brings a breadth of understanding, experience, and interest to the class that will help to assuage the frustrations. He truly cares about his students, about the work we do, and understands our limitations -- institutionally as well as individually and professionally. The more people get out and get their hands dirty creating stylesheets, the more sharing will occur, and the more individuals will feel in control of their products. 4: Very much so. Rather than spending time spoonfeeding the class so that, at the end, we would only be able to do a basic XSLT stylesheet, I feel that I have the tools to go out and do the job I was sent here to learn how to do. It will take time to put into practice what I have learned; I feel that I will be able to do it. It is by far the best one-week course, I have ever taken. 5: Yes, definitely worth taking, even if you are not the "stylesheet person" in your institution. 6: Yes, this course is a good buy; recommended. 7: Yes. Advice: definitely do all of the recommended reading; it was extremely useful. 8: Absolutely. This course gives you the basic knowledge that you need to implement EAD -- as the course title suggests. It's a good mix of the theoretical (the inside story of why this is how it is) and the practical. DP did a good job bringing to the forefront learning strategies for working out problems when we return to our home institutions. On top of that, the course was loads of fun. 9: Yes.

Number of respondents: 09

There were two archivists or manuscript librarians (22.5%), two systems librarians (22.5%), one rare book librarian (11%), one general librarian with no rare book duties (11%), one network librarian (11%), one systems administrator (11%), and one individual working in systems support (11%).

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