1) How useful were the pre-course readings?

1: Very useful and relevant. 2: Yes, very useful - highly pertinent. 3: Useful - provided a good overview. 4: They were very useful. 5: They were and are a great reference resource. 6: Helpful. 7: They were very helpful, though I could not get one of the books in time for the class. 8: Moderate usefulness - high technical content difficult to digest in text form at times. 9: Readings were useful and thorough. 11: Thorough, but often confusing when read in a vacuum.

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, very. 3: Extremely useful and relevant. 4: Yes, they will be. 5: Yes. 6: Yes, the resources will be useful in the future. 7: Yes - they were very helpful and will continue to be so. 8: Yes. 9: Yes, extremely useful, could not get by without them. Will be essential when I return home. 10: I will be referring to the reading material frequently as my institution begins our EAD project. 11: Yes.

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

1: Yes. 2: Yes - just at the right level. Beyond current ken [?], and capable of going deeper as needed. 3: On target - although we had to stay on our toes to keep up with the material. 4: It was excellent. 5: Yes. Right on the mark. The class was at a relatively equal intellectual level which continued throughout the week. 6-7: Yes. 8: Yes! Excellent! 9: Yes, what I hoped for and expected. 10: The reading and hands-on activities were all appropriate. 11: Yes.

4) Did the actual course content correspond to its RBS brochure description and Expanded Course Description (ECD)? Did the course in general meet your expectations?

1-2: Yes. 3: Course content corresponded with description well. 4-11: Yes.

5) What did you like best about the course?

1: The hands-on component. 2: Covered strategies for implementation as well as techniques of implementation. Able to reinforce developing skills by achieving our own encoded finding aid - good for my confidence as well as for showing at home institution. 3: The instructor - DP taught the class as an archivist first, programmer second. He made the course content extremely accessible and relevant. He knew the material backwards and forwards - we were in very good hands to absorb this complicated format and technology. His patience and good humor were also very much appreciated! 4: The discussions of the SGML and style sheet set-up behind EAD. The conceptualization of the whole EAD process. The approach to the practical application of EAD was very thorough. 5: The basic theory and clear explanation of implementation not given at SAA 2-day EAD events. The resources given at the end of the week - files, URLs, contacts, &c. 6: Encoding our own finding aid and solving problems that arose. 7: Encoding your own finding aid. It was a great feeling to see a collection you had processed encoded. 8: The length of course lent itself to in-depth study and enabled both overview and theory as well as hands-on application. 9: The instructor's teaching ability and the hands-on projects. 10: I had read a great deal about EAD, but the practical hands-on experience has given me a clearer understanding. 11: The instructor.

6) How could the course have been improved?

2: Talk through specific Web-based examples of EAD Finding Aids, to show the diversity of application and to give some model examples. 3: I would suggest breaking it up into two courses - Beginning (EAD) and Advanced (XSL style sheets). Both of these subjects deserve to be explored more in depth. If offered concurrently - students could stay for two weeks and take one class after another. Also - try to balance individual tutoring more with overall class instruction. If you're going to teach one person how to fix a style sheet, teach us all simultaneously. Time management/resource management applies here, too! 4: I think that the course could be divided into two courses. The conceptualizing and initial implementation/the management of a system - it's a lot to absorb all this in a week! 5: I would have liked a more in-depth look at an XSL style sheet and its components, but I understand that could be a course in itself. 6: We could have spent another week working on XSL coding. The room temp. was too hot. 7: Perhaps with a little more info on style sheets. I feel like I can take home what I did in class and encode more finding aids. However, I don't feel as though I could make any adjustments to the style sheet to fit specific needs. 8: A day longer! (at least) 9: I don't know. 11: I can't think of how it could be improved.

7) 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: Good opportunity to speak [to] other RBS students, even those that do not follow the same course. 2: Dinner and videos great. Bookseller - disappointing as too few shops open, and walk was long. Study Night - fine. Evening lectures - DT very interesting. TB interesting history of BAP, wanted to know more about such things nation-wide. 3: Wednesday evening Study Night was quite informative and enjoyable. It was a special privilege to see the collections and receive an "insider's tour." 4: Yes, they were well-spaced. 5: I was a bit surprised that not as many dealers were open or had rare materials to offer. The shops we were able to visit at the mall had mostly 20th century used books. 6: TB talked extensively about the RBS collections [on Study Night], showing us examples from the collection. This was both interesting and enjoyable. 7: I enjoyed the activities. It was nice hearing and comparing notes with others. 8: Bookseller Night was pleasurable if only for the fact that no other shops are open downtown after class! Our work/study day is so long it was difficult to participate in all the activities. 9: Some of the videos were fascinating, as was Study Night and listening to TB. 10: The Sunday evening dinner was an excellent way to meet people that were enrolled in other RBS classes.

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

1: It takes a lot more time if you have to figure this all out on your own. 2: I did get my money's worth. I would wholeheartedly recommend this. Advice: do as much advanced reading as possible. 3: This is an excellent class - I highly recommend it. It is definitely worth taking - is a good complement to the SAA two day workshop. You will go into greater depth and have a chance to learn at the hand of an EAD expert. 6: I would not recommend taking this course unless you are planning on encoding the finding aids in the immediate future. 7: Got more than my money's worth. I would have hated to tackle an EAD project without it. 8: Yes. I got my money's worth. Advice would be to get lots of rest beforehand! 9: I would (and will) recommend this course to anyone who wants or needs to learn this material. 10: The class was taught, planned and structured well. 11: DP is one of the best teachers I have ever had! He is able to explain a sometimes complicated subject with wit and great intelligence. I ended the class with a basic knowledge of EAD and certain that I will be able to return to my institution and continue to learn and use it.

Number of respondents: 11

There were 1.5 rare book librarians (14%), 6.5 archivist/manuscript librarians (59%), one teacher/professor (9%), one reference librarian with cataloging and Web mastering duties (9%), and one rare book cataloger working for a microfiche publisher (9%).