No. 24: Rare Book Cataloging
22-26 July 1996
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No. 24: Rare Book Cataloging 22-26 July 1996 |
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1. How useful were the pre-course readings? 1: Very useful in comprehending the daily lectures. 2: Gaskell is useful and readable  very difficult to read the DCRB manual: that is something you consult. 3: Mostly extremely useful, except the book by Norma Levarie, which I found dull, badly written, and not very useful (it concentrates on illustrations and doesn't say many helpful things about them). I would suggest Steinberg's 500 years of printing instead (recently republished). 4: Very useful so that all class members had some similar basic background. 5: Very useful. I'd recommend that for the rare book cataloging course, students be advised again of the importance of the readings. Also, for those who have not had a history of the book course (either RBS or otherwise), Levarie is extremely important. 6: Very useful, provided good background. 7: Extremely helpfulin fact, almost necessary. 8: Very. 9: Very useful. I had audited a course in descriptive bibliography last winter. The pre-course readings were an excellent review. 10: They helped me grasp what to expect from this course, especially the resources that pertain to cataloging. 11: Useful and appropriate. 12: Very useful; essential. |
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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: We changed the syllabus other handouts were good, and useful for future reference. 3: Yes, very. 4: Yesseveral are things I plan to use at work. 5: Yes. Especially the materials in the copypak. 6: The course syllabus was not of any use because of the changes caused by circumstances beyond the instructor's control. Materials distributed will be helpful. I plan to take them back to the institution to share with others. 7: Yes. 8: YesI was very grateful for additional examples. 9: Yes. The hard book for course 24 will be particularly useful. 10: Extremely useful during the course and after I return to work. 11: Useful in class, they will be used by me at work. 12: Yes, in terms of politics, procedure, and policy. |
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3. Was the intellectual level of the course content appropriate? 1: I found the class to be appropriate for me. Is RBS considering an Advanced Rare Book Cataloging course? There seemed to be two levels of individuals in the course those with absolutely no background in rare books and others who just seemed to be in the class as a review or to sharpen their already acquired rare book cataloging skills. Why not cater to both and offer two sessions? 2: Yes. Yes. 3: I personally would have preferred that it be more advanced, but I learned a lot. 4: Yesit was challenging, but not overwhelming. Several times we had the opportunity to have areas discussed that related to our individual jobs. 5: Yes. 6: Yes. 7: Generally so, although the differences in language skills made some decisions tedious. 8: Yesthere was a great disparity of experience in the group, but that is probably unavoidable. 9: Yes. 10: Yes. Some of us were at an introductory level while others were more advanced, but that actually benefited all of us in working toward the same goal. I have colleagues around the country I can now turn to in times of crisis in cataloging 11: Yes. 12: Yes. |
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4. If your course had field trips, were they effective? 4: Just a brief session demonstrating the Web this was worthwhile. 5: - (But perhaps this would be a good idea for the last day. To visit UVa's operations in rare book cataloging. To see the finished product.) 6: Yes. 7: Would have liked more time searching the Web. |
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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: See no.3, above. 2: Yes. I think we gained more than the brochure suggested in the way of theoretical and practical knowledge. And yes, the course certainly met, and in fact surpassed, my expectations. 3: Yes, except that I expected it to assume that everyone was familiar with the material covered by the readings and to go on from there. 4: Yes. The course was more enjoyable that I expected. We were not made to feel ignorant in areas that were new to some of us, and we could ask questions. The instructor was very flexible in accommodating the differing backgrounds of the participants. 5: Quite so. 6-9: Yes. 10: Exceeded my expectations; money well spent by my institution. 11: Yes. 12: Yes, very much. |
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6. What did you like best about the course? 1: EH is a fabulous lecturer: clear, precise, open to questions. 2: Well organized, solidly presented in a structured manner; instructor thoroughly knowledgeable and experienced in the subject matter. 3: The opportunities to do hands-on exercises and to have the instructor critique one's work. 4: a) we could ask questions relating to our own work. b) we worked with actual rare book materials, including a complete exercise which we reviewed individually with the instructor. c) The instructor was entertaining in his presentation while still conveying a great deal of information in the allotted time. 5: Hands-on work with books. 6: The hands-on experience of cataloging. 7: Practicum where we all worked on the same book at the same time. 8: The instructor was flexible, resourceful, encouraging, and did his best to draw out each student. He paid attention to our needs, sympathized with our situations, and prepared us to assess the best line of attack. 9: I found the practicums to be very useful. I enjoyed meeting individuals from other institutions and hearing about their problems/experiences within those institutions. 10: The cataloging practicum and the review of our work as a class and individually. 11: The actual examples of materials. The instructor's clarity, experience, and willingness to answer any and all questions; also, his good sense of humor. |
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7. How could the course have been improved? 1: Dare I ask for more homework? Something to help us review the daily lessons I'm not certain what that would entail, but I leave that to you, the experts. 2: More practical cataloging exercises; more shared exercises; people learn from other students' suggestions and interpretations of the rules. 3: The last day was a bit short on content, and in general most of the sessions could have been more concentrated. 4: I think it was well planned as is, and I would not make any changes. 5: More hands-on work with books. (Perhaps an afternoon lab component for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdaymore of a chance to see more of a variety of materials, even if only as an optional thing.) 6: I would have benefited from dividing the class into small groups and giving each group books to work on collectively. This would provide an opportunity to see tohers' views on the problems of cataloging. 7: More practicums and less time devoted to general discussion of politics, etc. Get rid of that German book that is miscollated. 8: I needed more experience in preparing signature statements. Either a group practicum each day (after the first) or a daily lab might help. 9: I was very satisfied with the course. 10: More cataloging exercises. 11: More time spent on transcription and collation, using the practicum approach. 12: We did not visit Special Collectionsthat might have been time well spent. |
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8. Please comment at will on the quality/enjoyability of the various RBS activities in which you took part outside of class, eg Sunday afternoon tour, Sunday night dinner and videos, Bookseller Night, tour of the Etext Center or Electronic Classroom, printing demonstrations, evening lectures, &c. 1: The evening general lectures were too short, too short! 2: Always good. Greer Allen's superb; Michael Winship's too narrow in its area of interest; TB's "State" is always worth listening to. 3: Excellent (for both quality and enjoyability)! 4: Enjoyed the GA & TB lectures and found them pertinent to my interests. MW did not interest me very much, but was well presented. 5: All were quite enjoyable and informative. Bravo! 6: Excellent lectures. 7: Attended only TB's, which was quite enjoyable and shorter than I expected. 8: I enjoyed all of the lectures for their content. Could they all be held in the Rotunda? 9: I attended two of the three lectures and enjoyed both. 10: Very enjoyable, friendly, casual, and entertaining. Felt comfortable schmoozing with well-renowned individuals in rare book librarianship. 11: Quite enjoyable glad I went. It's good to have at least one lecture in the Rotunda. 12: Attended TB's lecture and was surprised how short it was. |
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9. Any final thoughts? 1: Read, reread, consume Gaskell! 2: Do it! Just do it. 3: Take it for sure, it's excellent! 4: Read the course description carefully, because if your background or position is very different from the description, you may not get in. On the other hand, a beginner in rare book cataloging generally will not be too overwhelmed by the course. 5: Read the materials first. 6: Review and become familiar with Descriptive cataloging of rare books. 7: Generally feel quite good about the course it will come in quite useful as I consider how to enhance or upgrade our local records and think more systematically about the limitations of our local online system. 8: Plan to spend more time in Charlottesville. There really aren't any spare hours while the course is in session. 10: If you take your career as a cataloger of rare books seriously, you have to take this course before you begin to catalog a rare book collection. 11: Take it! |
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Number of respondents: 12 |
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*between jobs |
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There were twelve students: six were general librarians with some rare book duties (50%), four were rare book librarians (34%), one was a general cataloger with some rare book duties (8%), and one was a rare book cataloger (8%). |