34. Implementing Encoded Archival Description [L-80]
6-10 June 2005
1) How useful were the pre-course readings?
1: Very. They were long (and there were a lot), but it gave very useful background to the complicated subject. 2: They were extremely helpful, especially the recommended readings. 3: They were very useful, updated, and applicable. I felt more prepared for the class after reading the texts and looking at the relevant Web sites.4: Very; even though it has been close to five yrs since my introduction to EAD, the readings brought back a lot of information. I did tend to get confused by the repetitive nature of the material. 5: Very useful, although I wouldn’t have imagined how much so before the class. 6: Extremely helpful in giving overview of the topic. 7: Accepted late, but read some of the material; useful as reference, but not all necessary before the class (like reading a math book). 8: Yes.
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. More than useful; essential. 2: The syllabus was extremely helpful for the in-class exercises and will be a great resource when I apply what I learned at my repository. 3: Yes. Plenty of good examples and further discussion topics will be beneficial in the future. 4: Yes. 5: Absolutely!! I’m taking a whole suite of freeware and instructions and examples back with me! 6: Very useful both here and will be at home. 7: Yes. 8: Yes. Absolutely. The workbook was invaluable.
3) What aspects of the course content were of the greatest interest or relevance for your purposes? Was the intellectual level of the course appropriate?
1: Pt 1. Learning the tagging of a funding audit. Pt 2. Yes. EAD is complex, but it gave me a good starting point. 2: Encoding the sample finding aid and my individual finding aid. This [is] very practical for working archivists and manuscripts curators. 3: It was all relevant and interesting. I’m glad Daniel Pitti put many aspects of XML and EAD into historical context. 4: Loved the fact that we started from the ground up. 5: DP, I feel, has a true talent for making very technical information both accessible and entertaining. I appreciated his ability to offer simple metaphors to explain complex ideas. 6: The hands-on approach of encoding my own findings aid from start to finish was wonderful! The intellectual content of the course was challenging in just a week. 7: The actual mechanics of the process were the most useful. Yes. 8: All of it was relevant if you had no prior experience with XML. Yes, the intellectual content was very appropriate, because we all had archival experience.
5) What did you like best about the course?
1: Daniel Pitti. He’s an excellent teacher. 2: The instructor makes the course both enjoyable and informative. 3: Instructor’s enthusiasm and the chance to encode our own finding aid. 4: DP’s knowledge and patience for running through EAD from the ground up. 5: There was nothing not to like. I can’t impose a hierarchy!! 6: The relaxed and open approach of the instructor to the course content. He made EAD understandable in a clear and direct style of communication that encouraged participation by class members. 7: Encoding our own finding aids and seeing how they could be improved to better reflect the intellectual content of the collection. 8: It completely made me re-think the way I had written my first few finding aids. I completely re-engineered the finding aid I brought and it is a 100% improvement as far as clarity and usability goes.
6) How could the course have been improved?
1: More time! 2: If it could be squeezed in, it would be helpful to see examples of finding aids on a actual Web sites. 3: Perhaps by devoting only one day to working on encoding a finding aid as a group, and thus allowing more time for discussion of linking and reference. 4: The XML part freaked me out in the beginning, but it all fell into place by Wednesday. 5: Just one more day.... 6: Shorter lunch breaks to allow more time for classroom instruction. 7: A chance for class participants to share finding aids and discuss encoding problems would have been informative. Moving the theory to the end might have worked better; understood context and why the issues matter. 8: No improvements necessary.
8) If you attended the Sunday and/or Monday night lectures, were they worth attending?
1: Yes, especially Monday’s map lecture. It was very interesting. 2: Yes. They were both very enjoyable. I found the lecture on maps in colonial America very enlightening. 3: Yes. The trip to the new Special Collections building was a treat in itself and Margaret Pritchard’s talk was fascinating. 4-5: Yes. 6: The Sunday evening introduction was a great ice-breaker for attendees. I didn’t attend Monday night’s lecture, but I heard from other participants that it was a great presentation by a very knowledgeable speaker. 7-8: N/A.
9) If you attended Museum Night, was the time profitably spent?
1: N/A. 3: Yes. It was interesting to see some unusual technology and get a glimpse of RBS’s collections. 4: N/A. 6-8: N/A.
10) Did you get your money’s worth? Any final or summary thoughts, or advice for other persons considering taking this course in a future year?
1: Yes. Our class was not full and it was very nice having a smaller group. DP could devote personal time and attention to us and our individual needs. 2: Yes. 3: I believe so. I think I have a good basic grasp of XML and EAD and will be able to apply it to my home institution. Advice: Become familiar with tagging; Become familiar with archival theory. Thank you! 4: Absolutely! 5: Yes. Bring an extra disc or CD to save your work! 6: Yes. This course is a great introduction to the complexity of EAD, but be sure to complete the background readings! 7: Yes. I got my money’s worth! It’s useful (essential?) to have a plan for how to use the new skills immediately, even if just dummy finding aids at home. 8: Absolutely. The class was a lot of work, but well worth it. The instructor did an excellent job of breaking down a very complex subject and re-building it without you even realizing that you have now mastered that complexity.
Number of respondents: 8
Percentages
Leave Tuition Housing Travel
Institution Institution Institution Institution
gave me leave paid tuition paid housing paid travel
75% 75% 62% 62%
I took vaca- I paid tui- I paid for my I paid my own
tion time tion myself own housing travel
0% 0% 25% 25%
N/A: self- N/A: Self- N/A: stayed N/A: lived
employed, re- employed, with friends nearby
tired, or had retired, or or lived at
summers off exchange home
25% 25% 13% 13%
There were four archivists/manuscript librarians (50%), and one each (12.5%) rare book librarian, general librarian with some rare book duties, non-professional library staff member, and full-time student.