Jackie Dooley & Bill Landis
L-60: Introduction to Archives for Special Collections Librarians
17–21 July 2013
Detailed Course Evaluation
1) How useful were the pre-course readings? Did you do any additional preparations in advance of the course?
1: I read DACS cover to cover and brought it to class as requested, but neither was really necessary (although I’m glad I knew the stuff in advance). Other readings gave a sense of basic archival issues. 2: Extremely helpful and provided a solid foundation for the course. 3: Very helpful. 4: They were very useful for the general concepts we covered in class. 5: Pre-course readings were helpful for getting a grounding—just enough to give background without being too lengthy. 6: Very useful and interesting. 7: The pre-course readings absolutely prepared me for the course. Although it was not necessary, I brought the reading material with me and referred to it after, and saw how it related to discussions in class. 8: Excellent—gave good basis to understand and build on concepts in class. 9: Very useful. After reading, I was afraid I wouldn’t learn anything in the class—but of course I did J 10: Very helpful. The readings really helped me grasp the nuance, and intricacies of the class lectures. 11: As an archivist I was already familiar with the readings. 12: Somewhat useful. No other preparation. 13: Very useful.
2) Were the course workbook and other materials distributed in class appropriate and useful (or will they be so in the future, after you return home)?
1: Yes, very useful, and allowed the students to focus on what was being said instead of scrambling to write down all the acronyms &c. 2: Useful reference in class and in the future. 3: Very helpful. 4: I haven’t been able to look at them all because there are many digital files. None the less, from what I have seen so far they are extremely useful. 5: Did not use workbook materials much in class, but anticipate being useful once home. 6: Yes! Very useful, and I will definitely refer to them in the future. 7: The material received in class was incredibly helpful. I know I will continue to refer to them. I will also be sharing with colleagues. 8: Excellent—helped to see on own screen at time of discussion and not have to take rapid notes. 9: Yes, and yes. I’m sure I will refer to slides and given links often once I’m back to work. 10: Very much so—I love that it was all on a flash drive that we could transfer to our laptops. Better for the environment and my back. 11: Yes, very much so. 12: Yes, most of it is very useful. I appreciate that we received daily digital material. 13: Yes.
3) Have you taken one or more RBS courses before? If so, how did this course compare with your previous coursework?
1: Have never taken a RBS class before. 2: Have taken many classes in the past, and this one ranks among the most useful. I wish I could have taken it sooner! 3: No. 4: This is my first RBS course. 5: N/A. 6: This was my first course. 7: No. 8: N/A. 9: No. 10: Yes, this is my third class, and is the best class I have taken. 11: N/A. 12: No. 13: Yes. They were totally different but the material/instructors was/were equally engaging and prepared.
4) What aspects of the course content were of the greatest interest or relevance for your purposes?
1: BL’s presentations—anything he said was gold. Very useful and framed and presented in a way that revealed/provoked new thoughts or situations or considerations. Everything he showed us and examples he did were all so useful and interesting. Five stars for BL. 2: Greater understanding of archival description compared to rare book cataloging. 4: Copyright, professional associations, donor interactions (especially deeds of gift), accession and description. 5: Arrangement and description strategies—the hands-on example was great. Archivist’s Toolkit! Born digital—practical steps and references given to make it less scary. 6: DACS, processing, born-digital materials, ethics. 7: The hands-on experience with actual archival material was a very useful way to learn. 8: Arrangement and description I loved, but introductions and all other areas including reference, outreach, and digital archives were important to learn and be working with. 9: I especially enjoyed the background in traditional archives and the information regarding the born-digital materials. 10: The hands-on processing was fantastic, as were the guest lectures on metadata and born digital. 11: N/A—see number eight. 12: Hands-on work processing and analyzing archival material. Visits to different Yale library work spaces. 13: The archives as a profession and educational training available to work as an archivist/digital archivist.
5) Did the instructor(s) successfully help you to acquire the information, knowledge, and skills that the course was intended to convey? Was the intellectual level of the course appropriate?
1: Too much time was spent presenting ‘other resources’ instead of diving into the nitty-gritty. The other resources work best as references in our handbook to look at later. The class time spent on the actual subjects of the profession or issues an archivist deals with were most applicable to a course with this title. 2: Skilled instructors who taught with an engaging team approach. 3: Yes. It was intense and thorough. 4: Yes. It was a little on the advanced side during some technical portions, but I think that is to be expected considering the length of the course. 5: Yes. 6: Yes. 7: A lot of information was covered in a relatively short period of time. That needs to be stated up front. I am still, and will continue, to digest the material learned. The course was everything it is intended to be and more! 8: Yes, yes. They are practitioners current in the field and know what’s important, how to get information and implement knowledge in real working situations. 9: Yes, and yes. JD and BL both did a great job of going slowly through tricky parts, offering clarification, and pointing to helpful outside research. 10: Yes, I feel so much more comfortable with the concept of archives and how I might apply archival practices to my own work. 11: Yes, yes—but some of the digital information was unnecessary for a smaller archive. 12: Yes, I think so. I would have liked more about creating finding aids. Intellectual level was all right—sometimes too advanced for me, but mostly appropriate. 13: Yes. Yes. Some aspects were highly technical, but they were eye-opening.
6) What did you like best about the course?
1: BL. And all of the field trips and working professionals we met. And the days we worked with real archival material. A lot of the intimidation in deciding how to arrange a collection was overcome with those exercises. 2: The hands-on work with organizing and describing archival collections. 3: Intense pace crammed with information concerning all major aspects of archives. 4: The opportunity to meet and ask career questions to more knowledgeable and experienced professionals (the instructors and other RBS students). 5: Working with real examples (i.e. using reel collections for processing, really going through the Archivist’s Toolkit). The hands-on approach was very helpful for learning whereas in library school everything was mostly conceptual. 6: Meeting other people in similar situations; getting to spend focused time learning about archives; hands-on activities were very helpful. I liked the field trips, too. 7: Access to the professors and the behind-the-scenes exposure to the archiving processing areas. 8: The instructor’s pleasant manner of delivering a lot of information relevant to our work and our profession to colleagues. 9: JD and BL’s presentations and sharing archival experience; hands-on time with materials; tours and panels with Yale professionals. 10: The instructors’ clear dedication to the profession and the hands-on processing. I also really liked having the guest lectures and tours in the afternoon. 11: Colleagues, networking, hands-on exercises. 12: Hands-on work and visiting the Beinecke. 13: Location. Instructors. Lots of opportunities for cultural sightseeing at Yale and in New Haven.
7) How could the course have been improved?
1: Less time self-promoting OCLC and SAA. 2: No suggestions. 4: The overall pace of the program is quite intense. Honestly, it’s hard to say because I liked this course so much. 5: The Monday session on core values of the profession seemed a little unfocused—it seemed like we were wandering around the web for definitions; a more focused PowerPoint might help, as well as some concrete examples to show different kinds of value &c. 6: Sometimes it felt rushed, but there was so much information covered that I suppose there was no other way to cram it all in! 7: Better communication with Yale Conferences and Events staff to improve accommodations. 8: A couple of articles read to prepare were dated, and the order of presentation of a couple of topics seemed odd, but I really can’t say anything could improve the class. It was great—very helpful. 9: This is a little sad, but the only thing I can think to improve are the snacks. 10: Perhaps a little less time could be spent day one on introducing to allow more time for processing or born digital? Although it was useful to get to know the class, so maybe not. 11: Better description in the catalog, fewer ‘field trips’, greater concentration on writing finding aids without using Archivist’s Toolkit. 13: Instead of one week, maybe two weeks long J
8) Did you learn what the course description/advertisement indicated you would learn? Additional comments optional. Y/N
1: Yes. Although I thought we’d spend more time with DACS. In the end, I don’t think we needed to. 2–7: Yes. 8: Yes. That and more. 9–10: Yes. 11: No. I made some incorrect initial assumptions about the class content; therefore, on my error, the class was not what I expected or hoped it would be. 12–13: Yes.
9) Did you learn what you wanted in the course? Additional comments optional. Y/N
1: Yes. Although it was perhaps too introductory in some ways, but I think they did a good job of teaching the profession from the ground up. 2–10: Yes. 11: N/A.12–13: Yes.
10) How do you intend to use or apply the knowledge or skills learned in this course?
1: In my daily life. In my current role (as a sorta-archivist) and in any future roles/work I consider. Helps you decide whether being an ‘archivist’ is for you. 2: Will allow me to work more effectively with my archival colleagues as I now have a better understanding of their tasks and their perspective. 3: I will be the first archivist at my institution. 4: The information I learned will help me refine my work as a paraprofessional, particularly reading room work and description. It will also be a great pre-grad school jump start. 5: Will be more confident in general approaching archival issues, specifically will try to implement Archivist’s Toolkit or Archives Space and wade into digital issues. 6: I feel knowledgeable enough now to be able to make recommendations to my administration about what is best for archives. 7: This course has provided me with a great introduction to the archiving environment for SC. 8: I will try to digest material and devise a plan to bring these topics into our work which needs to address the issues covered in class. 9: The skills learned in processing and appraisal will be instrumental in handling the huge backlog awaiting me at home. The information about born-digital materials will form a solid basis for further research into handling this type of collection. 10: I now have a much greater understanding of the theory behind archival practice and feel comfortable as I consider applying archival practice to some of my print collections. 11: Daily use at work. 12: I hope to work in a SC library again someday. This course should offer some good foundation and preparation for that. 13: Conversion of finding aids in .pdf to EAD using Archivist Toolkit, making them discoverable on the web and searchable across the board.
11) If your course left its classroom, was the time devoted to this purpose well spent?
1: Yes. Except when we went back to the digital archive lab and just looked at their computer monitors (black). That was unnecessary since we’d already seen the space and they didn’t show us anything relevant/new. 2: It was of great interest to me to see Yale’s digital ‘studios’—gave me ideas for what my institution could do. 3: Yes. 4: Yes. The presentations were brief (relatively) but informative. 5: Yes, helpful to see these operations in action. 6: Yes. 7: Yes! The Beinecke is beautiful! 8: Yes—to see some fabulous facilities and some that were carved out of available space was refreshing. 9: Yes. Everyone was very mindful of our schedule and did their best to maximize our time with them. 10: Very much so. The contrast of processing spaces and the two imaging operations was interesting and insightful.11: All were excellent except for the last digital ‘trip’ to the lab, which was unnecessary. It was a duplicate visit, and the lab could have been referenced from the previous visit.12: All of it was great. We could have skipped the second trip to the Sterling Library when we were discussing born-digital materials. We saw nothing new. 13: Yes.
12) If you attended the evening events (e.g., RBS Lecture, Video Night, RBS Forum, Booksellers’ Night) were they worth attending?
1: Yes, very much. Useful to meet new colleagues/network. 2: The video of the Florence flood and the lecture were personally of interest to me. 3: Very appropriate. 4: I’d say so, though I left early a few times simply because I was so tired. 5: Yes, loved the Canterbury lecture! 6: Yes! 7: Both the lecture and the video night were well worth attending. It helps to hear what others are working on, and what others are excited about—helps to create the big picture. 8: Yes—the film on Florence flood damage, followed by actual deluge here was perfect. Lecture on Canterbury Cathedral Library was delightful as was Reese reception. 9: Yes—informative, though not directly related to my job. 10: Yes, in particularly David Shaw’s lecture was great. 11: Very much so. 12: Yes. Loved the documentary about the flood of Florence. 13: Yes.
13) 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: N/A—they did a great job. 2: No suggestions. 4: Not a concern that I witnessed. 5: Not really a concern in our class—materials handled carefully. 6: None—everything was handled very professionally. 7: Everything was spectacularly run and of the highest quality. 8: No, great care given to materials by students and instructors. 9: It was great to be able to appraise collections. JD and BL did a great job explaining procedures and handling techniques. 10: This was a great location with use of collections that were in good shape. 11: Collections were well-protected in each exercise. 12: Material was handled with proper care. 13: Instructors showed the utmost care of the archival materials they handled.
14) Did you (or your institution) get your money’s worth? Would you recommend this course to others?
1: Depends. 2: I used my vacation funds to come here, and it was well worth it. I would highly recommend this course to anyone who is interested or works with archive or used them in research. 3: Very much so. 4: Yes, absolutely. Though I might caution someone about staying at Saybrook. 5: Yes, and yes. 6: Yes, and yes! 7: Yes! Plus some! 8: Yes. Yes. 9: Yes, and yes. Highly recommended. 10: Yes, no doubt about it. 11: See number eight. 12: Yes. I would recommend it. 13: Yes. Yes.
15) Any final or summary thoughts, or advice for other persons considering taking this course in a future year? (If you have further praise/concerns, please speak with Amanda Nelsen or Michael Suarez.)
1: Take ANY course with BL! 3: I will email thoughts about practical aspects that can be improved for the future. 4: Do it if you can. Take time to sleep a lot. 6: The best part was bonding with other students! 7: Fantastic experience! Thank you to all the RBS staff and faculty! 8: RBS course was great! Yale needs help in communicating with and accommodating students who stay on campus. 9: The time spent handling archival materials was huge—the course would have been completely different without it. 11: Due diligence on course content. 12: BL was great, very prepared, always responsive. JD was up and down in presentations. She also talked a lot when we had guest speakers, and some students felt we would have liked to have more time to interact with the guests. 13: More scholarships/fellowships options should be available with flexible application due dates. Payment plan options.
Aggregate Statistics
Number of respondents: 13
Leave
Institution gave me leave: 8 (62%)
I took vacation time: 4 (31%)
N/A: self-employed, retired, or had summers off: 1 (7%)
Tuition
Institution paid tuition: 7 (54%)
I paid tuition myself: 6 (46%)
Housing
Institution paid housing: 5 (38%)
I paid for my own housing: 7 (54%)
N/A: stayed with friends or lived at home: 1 (8%)
Travel
Institution paid travel: 5 (38%)
I paid my own travel: 7 (54%)
N/A: lived nearby: 1 (8%)
Which one category most closely defines what you do for a living, or why you are at RBS? (Please check only one category)
M.L.I.S.: 1 (8%)
Librarian with no rare book duties: 1 (8%)
Librarian with some rare book duties: 3 (23%)
Library assistant/clerk: 1 (7%)
Library/University Administrator: 1 (8%)
Rare book librarian: 1 (8%)
Work in a museum or cultural institution: 2 (15%)
Archivist/manuscript librarian: 3 (23%)
How did you hear about this course?
RBS website: 8 (62%)
RBS printed schedule: 1 (8%)
Word of mouth: 2 (15%)
Listserv: 2 (15%)