Deborah J. Leslie

84: Rare Book Cataloging [L-30]

2-6 August 2004


 

1)   How useful were the pre-course readings?


1: Very useful; some were essential. 2: Very useful. I didn’t always quite fully grasp the ideas, but once class started the ideas were well clarified. 3: Very useful and helpful in preparing well for the class. 4: Very helpful. 5: It was very helpful to have done some preliminary reading. 6: Very good – since I’m not working as a rare book librarian the rules and examples were needed in order to keep up with others in the course. 7: Very useful – and ensured that we all started out with the same basic knowledge and vocabulary. 8: Very useful – lengthy, but definitely worth the time. 9: Some were difficult, but all were useful. 10: Very useful, very necessary. 11: Very. 12: Pre-course readings were very useful.

 

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: Very useful. The hands-on exercises were great. 3: Syllabus and workbook were excellent, up-to-date, and I will be using it in my work frequently. 4: The syllabus and course materials were excellent, appropriate, and very useful. 5: Yes, they will be very useful. 6: Yes.

7: I plan to use them extensively. Being able to handle actual items was very helpful. 8: Yes – the examples will be very helpful. 9: The workbooks distributed in class will prove invaluable.

10: Yes. Would prefer sturdier binding. 11: Yes. 12: I can tell I will be referring to the course workbook often.

 

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: Cannot really separate some aspects, for all were relevant in gaining understanding of DCRB. Intellectual level appropriate. 2: Course content – greatest relevance was how to apply the MARC tags to the terminology. However, it was very helpful to have the history of how books evolved and were produced. I feel very humbled intellectually, but that is only due to my own ego. I could not have wanted this class to be any less than what it was/is. 3: Practical issues in cataloging were most helpful. Yes, the level was very appropriate. 4: The intellectual level was rigorous and stimulating. Everything came together very well. 5: Covered many areas, such as hand-press books, c19 books, cataloging challenges, and cataloging policy. It was helpful to have the opportunity of creating some records in class. 6: Learning to “read” a DCRB record. While the project I am taking on will be primarily copy cataloging work, it was important for me to be able to recognize what the bibliographical records contained. 7: Everything! 8: Very appropriate level. I liked the way DJL “built” the cataloging record throughout the week so that at the end we were able to put it all together and catalog an entire piece. 9: All aspects were relevant and intellectually stimulating. 10: Everything was applicable. Intellectual level was appropriate. 11: Focus on principles and good exemplars. 12: The whole course was interesting and useful. It cleared up many questions I had in applying DCRB.

 

4)   If your course had field trips, were they effective?


1: Yes. 2: Yes, I think the time was spent well. 3: Yes. 4: Absolutely. The trip to Special Collections was planned and conducted with our specific course in mind, and they did a great job of illustrating the concepts of issue and edition. 5-8: Yes.. 9: Time spent in Special Collections was very illustrative to points made in class. 10-11: Yes.

 

5)   What did you like best about the course?


1: Being in an environment where teacher and students all had enthusiasm for the subject. 2: That every day I understood something new. 3: Cataloging practicum and lecture clarifying and updating the rules. 4: The practicum – getting to put to use on a rare book everything we’d learned during the week. 5: It was challenging and interesting. It was useful t have practical exercises to complete and to work in groups with other students. It was a comfortable atmosphere. 6: Without a doubt, the instructor. Fantastic skills and very good teaching style; made a difficult subject less so! 7: I liked working through the examples in class, and being able to discuss various methods and problems with my classmates. 8: The fact that I could devote an entire week to learn and talk about rare book cataloging. The interaction was wonderful stimulation. And DJL made it enjoyable as well as purposeful. 9: The practicum, because I was able to put into practice all that had been covered in class. 10: All the examples used to demonstrate rules, principles and anomalies. 11: Superb instruction. 12: The exercises were particularly helpful.

 

6)   How could the course have been improved?


1: By having students, for some exercises, use blackboard to present their solutions to problems. 2: More desk space. 3: It was a great course – Perhaps more time would help, but this is not possible. 4: A little more focus the Friday afternoon. 6: Pre-course direction to compare sections of DCRB with AACR2 to help convey how the methods differ. 10: Taught over a longer period. 11: Access to electronic resources and utilities.

 

7)   We are always concerned about the physical well-being both of the RBS 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: Don’t know what could be changed – Good compromise existed between need to preserve materials and need to handle some of them. 2: More room to work. 4: No additional suggestions. Staff and instructors do a very good job of teaching us how to handle the materials and are on top of it when they notice them being mishandled. They’re very responsible. 9: More desk space. 11: More space for working with materials.

 

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


1: Yes – both interesting. 2: I attended both lectures. I was so fatigued by the Monday night lecture, that I’m afraid I was a poor listener. 3: Yes. 4: Yes – The orientation gave a great perspective on the school, and the lecture was fascinating. 5: Yes, they were enjoyable. 6: Monday night was a gas!! Very fun and amusing. Sunday’s program, while important, could benefit from some updating. 8: Sort of relevant but not exactly stimulating. 9: Yes, both proved very interesting. 10: Could not attend lectures. 11: Yes.


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


1: Yes. 2: Great museum exhibits. It really made what we had read and talked about in class concrete. 3: Yes. 4: Both Museum Nights were absolutely fantastic. RBS’s collections are extensive, and you did a terrific job of teaching us about paper and printing through your materials. 5: Yes, it was valuable. 6: Both very helpful. 7: Definitely helpful to see the many examples – reinforced what was learned during class and readings. 8: Yes – visually fortified what we learned in class. 9: Again, both proved to be very interesting. 10: Yes. 12: Yes. I hope this will be repeated.

 

10) Did you get your money’s worth? Any final thoughts?


1: Yes. Be prepared to devote full time to the course – will be well rewarded. 2: Yes. Alone of all the seminars or one-day classes I’ve attended, I never walked away from a day of class in which I was disappointed about anything, except maybe my own abilities. 3: Yes. Do your readings well in advance. The class is very intensive but well worth the effort. 4: Yes, I got my money’s worth. I worked hard and learned a lot. The instructor really knows her stuff. 5: Yes. 6: Another fantastic RBS experience! The topic was of value to me, and the instructor was wonderful. 7: I feel that I gained a lot from this class. Although the experience has been intense, and we’ve had to cram a lot of stuff into just five days, I will be able to apply what I’ve learned and feel fairly confident that I will actually be able to go home and catalog rare books. DJL was great. 8: Most definitely! It was good to learn the “why” not just the “how” for rare book cataloging. Following rules is what we do in cataloging, but the background helps me make appropriate decisions in cataloging a piece. 9: Yes, very much so. 10: Absolutely. Worth suffering through the Virginia summer weather! Absolutely do the pre-course readings. 11-12: Yes.


Number of respondents: 12


Percentages


Leave                       Tuition                    Housing                   Travel


Institution                 Institution                 Institution                 Institution

gave me leave            paid tuition               paid housing              paid travel


92%                            75%                            75%                            75%



I took vaca-                I paid tui-                  I paid for my              I paid my own

tion time                    tion myself                 own housing              travel


8%                              17%                            17%                            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


0%                              8%                              8%                              0%




There were five general librarians with some rare book duties (43%), three rare book librarians (25%), a rare book cataloger (8%), a reference and cataloging librarian (8%),

a cataloger (8%), and a full-time student (8%).