20-24 July 1998
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1) How useful were the pre-course readings? 1: Very useful. 2: They were fine in general, but I felt I needed more background in MARC tags and delimiters. 3: Very useful, but it's difficult to sit down and read a cataloging manual without a brief introduction. 4: The pre-course readings were helpful; however, it was difficult in some instances to receive them on time. I went through interlibrary loan for many, receiving them the day before leaving for RBS. 5: Very useful, but a bit overwhelming and intimidating. 6: Very extensive and vital to success in the course. 7: The articles were useful, though the reading of the sections of rules were not. 8: Very useful. 9: Very helpful. They helped me refresh my cataloging. 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: Again, very useful, in both cases. 2: Yes. 3: Yes - useful. They should be useful for reference after I return home. 4: Yes. 5: OK, but what this course really needs is an interactive, computer-based module for all pre-work!!! 6: Yes, very. 7: Yes, especially the epitome of MARC tags/punctuation. 8-9: Yes. 3) Was the intellectual level of the course content appropriate? 1-2: Yes. 3: Yes. Most of the class knew something about cataloging beforehand, and most had library degrees. This background kept the course at an appropriate level. 4: Yes - very appropriate. It was an intense overview. 5-7: Yes. 8: Yes, the content was complicated, so even more would have been too much. 9: Yes. 4) If your course had field trips, were they effective? 1: N/A. 2: Yes; field trip to Clemons Library for Web resources presentation was quite beneficial. 3: The Web demonstration was good, but not in a good room. 5: N/A. 7: N/A. 9: Yes. 5) Did the actual course content correspond to its RBS bro-chure description and Expanded Course Descripion (ECD)? Did the course in general meet your expectations? 1: Yes, very closely for the classes I was able to attend. 2: Yes. 3: Yes, but the course had much more in common with my library school cataloging class than I'd anticipated. 4: Yes, it did. 5-9: Yes. 6) What did you like best about the course? 1: Hands-on experience. 2: In-class walking though the resources (AACR2, DCRB, &c.) provided helpful reinforcement to the learning process, which really covers a very large field of information. 3: The instructors are very good and work well as a team. The cataloging practicum, with the opportunity to describe a rare book, was especially useful. 4: I enjoyed the exercises each afternoon - applying the principles we learned in the morning section of the course. 5: Practical training, very focused and requiring hard work. I felt I learned a great deal. 6: The exercises we did in class, which helped to solidify what was presented in the lectures. 7: The attention paid to the needs/concerns of individual institutional situations. Everyone had slightly different problems and all received thoughtful responses. 8: Demystification of cataloging. 9: Information I will apply to my collections at home. Also, meeting and talking with other people with problems similar to mine. 7) How could the course have been improved? 1: The part of the course I was able to attend needs no improvement. 2: A few pages with summary MARC information would be useful. 3: I'd recommend making sure the students have similar experience or backgrounds in the future. Some were not familiar with rare book description or terminology. 4: The computer/electronic part of the course (Friday morning) was not very helpful, nor was the discussion after lunch on Friday. More practice would have been appreciated. 5: Need to find a better way of teaching the AACR2 and DCRB rules, more examples, perhaps overheads, slides, or power-point. 6: More exercises, though, of course, we would more time to fit them in. 7: The MARC tagging section was a little confusing because the examples were out of date. A clearer statement/list of tags would have been helpful. 8: Try an overhead projector instead of a blackboard for better visual quality for note taking. 9: Maybe cataloging a record online and checking access. 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? 1-2: None. 3: The instructors should spend up to five minutes explaining basic handling of rare books. Students should be required to use pencil during the description exercises to help preserve the BAP collections. 4: No food or drink around the materials - especially after returning from breaks. The choice of gloves for those with dirty books. 5: No problems. 9: Not much. EH and ST were good about reminding us to take care. 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 and videos, evening lectures, Bookseller Night, tour of the Alderman digital/electronic centers, &c. 1: Unfortunately, because of a health problem, I wasn't able to attend anything but the Sunday night dinner and part of that night's videos. I found those to be quite enjoyable. 2: The Sunday tour was a lot of fun and saved time later. The best part of RBS is the frequent opportunities afforded to meet colleagues and other book people and share perspectives. 3: Sunday night dinner is a good occasion to meet people (the menu was much better this year!). The lectures are always informative and entertaining. The tours and demonstrations may not have been publicized widely enough. I seem to have missed both. 4: The Sunday tour was very enjoyable, with wonderful informational tidbits. Dinner and videos allowed for primary introductions - always good. The lectures were OK (I did not enjoy the second one). Bookseller Night was disappointing - all were not open. 5: Fine, very enjoyable. 6:The lectures were especially good this year. 8: All activities were enjoyable and do well to round out the RBS experience. 9: Everything was enjoyable. I could have used homework, though, like DesBib. 10) Any final thoughts? Did you get your money's worth? 1: I am very grateful to all the RBS people who have been so kind to me during my health crisis. The UVa hospital provided very high quality care, as well. 2: 1) No. 2) Yes. 3: Perhaps parts of it might be considered a cataloging refresher, but it would be difficult to justify taking it. The course was certainly worth the expense. 4: I definitely got my money's worth! Thanks to EH and ST - wonderful job! Very beneficial in furthering curator/cataloger relationships and needs. 5: Yes, the course should improve as the instructors refine their material and presentations. 6: This is an extremely useful course for rare books curators, whether or not they intend to catalog their own materials. 7: The most important preparation is to meet with your home institution's cataloging staff beforehand. 8: Get all the reading material as soon as possible and read it as much as you can. The course is technical, so you'll feel less anxiety about doing course assignments the better prepared you are. 9: Thank you. I got more than I paid for. Number of respondents: 9
There were nine students: six (67%) were rare book librarians, two (22%) were archivist/manuscript librarians, and one (11%) was a general librarian with some rare book duties. |