Helena Zinkham
83: Visual Materials Cataloging [L-40]
5-9 August 2002

1) How useful were the pre-course readings?

1: Very good, although reading rules per se isn't as useful without working with particular examples to flesh out the rules. But useful especially since new rules were introduced from other guidelines. 2: Pre-course readings were very helpful. They bridged gaps and reinforced my current understanding. 3: Comprehensive and very thoughtful. 4: Pre-course readings were useful, even necessary (depending on your knowledge of the subject) in preparing one for the course. 5: I found the pre-course exercises to be the most helpful. 6: Excellent. 7: Excellent foundation. 8: Very helpful for course and will be useful for subsequent reference on the job. 9: Very useful -- those that I read. I was unable to get hold of a few. 10: Useful readings ahead of time, but would have liked more articles and fewer cataloging manuals, which are not easy to read or retain if you do read them. 11: Excellent -- can't overestimate the value of these readings for course preparation and as aids in preparing manuals or training sessions later in my own institution. 12: Good -- helpfully divided into required and optional. Required reading quite voluminous (OK for me though).

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: Excellent. I'm sure I'll be referring to them again and again when working with visual materials. 2: Both the syllabus and other distributed work proved extremely helpful. They will continue to serve as reference tools in the future. 3: Absolutely! 4: Yes -- I expect to refer to then in the future. 5: Yes. All materials were covered in class and will be invaluable as reference later. 6: Yes. All class materials were appropriate and useful during class and will continue to be relevant and useful when I return to work after this class and apply what I have learned. 7: Very much so. The workbook contains examples of everything discussed in class and will serve as a very handy reference tool in the future. 8: Yes; comment in question one above applies here also. 9: The materials were terrific. I will bring them to work on Monday and keep them permanently at my desk. 10: Very useful now and for future reference. 11: Very useful, and instructor followed her plan very well, adjusting to the experience level of the class as a whole after the initial tensions. 12: Yes -- workbook contains some useful bibliographies and reference materials and cheat sheets.

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

1: Very good. 2: Absolutely. 3-8: Yes. 9: Yes. HZ was adept at dealing with problems relevant to all types of libraries (public, academic, &c.) in just the right way. 10: Yes. 11: Never a painful stretch; never a painful insult. 12: Yes.

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

1: What a treat to visit Prints and Photographs at the Library of Congress. The exercise describing posters was very helpful and I was very impressed with the staff at Prints and Photographs and their willingness to take time out of their day and be so helpful and share their expertise and time with us. 2: Yes. We visited the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. While there we benefitted from the expertise of catalogers long in the trenches. 3: Yes. It added a great deal to the overall experience. 4: Yes -- a very good opportunity to get a "behind the scenes" look at a high functioning, and well equipped, facility. 5: The trip to the Library of Congress was particularly helpful in putting things in perspective -- seeing how the staff handles/stores/catalogs graphic materials is useful in knowing where to begin with the collections in my own library. 6: Yes! We visited the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. HZ's staff gave us presentations in their areas of expertise, showed us wonderful materials and resources, provided us with hands-on examples to catalog, and ate lunch with us. 7: Yes -- it is always instructional to see how another organization does it (and I was secretly delighted to see that the Library of Congress also has to drape cabinets with plastic sheeting because of the danger of overhead leaking pipes). 8: Trip to the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division added greatly to the course. 9: We visited the Library of Congress for a wonderful day that perfectly illustrated or expanded upon issues we were dealing with. 10: Yes -- the Library of Congress staff were wonderful and well-prepared for our visit. Also appreciated being behind the scenes there. 11: Perfect -- instruction, tour segments, and practice cataloging sessions provided experience especially with the Library of Congress's wonderful holdings that we wouldn't have gotten at RBS, let alone in Virginia. 12: Great trip to the Library of Congress! Good to talk with "real exerts" and hear the "unpublished" rule interpretations in use there. Pleasant van driver. However, long drive in somewhat cramped quarters.

5) What did you like best about the course?

1: Hard to say. The interaction with other students, many more familiar with the materials than I am and what they shared during the week. But I like the whole overview concept of the course comparing the different descriptive rules and subject thesauri that could be used. 2: Two things: the expert, congenial instruction, and the opportunity to learn from others in the class. 3: The interaction with my instructor and classmates. 4: The expertise and teaching skills the instructor brought to the classes -- she made the classes both informative and interactive. 5: I most enjoyed going through the Graphic Materials book and doing the various exercises to go along with it. It brought out and clarified all the rules that I had overlooked or misinterpreted in the past. 6: I learned a great deal; I very much liked the instructor's approach and appreciate her depth of knowledge and experience; my classmates were interesting and shared their experiences with me; and I love to catalog. 7: The instructor's method of teaching with many hands-on exercises, excellent workbook, encouragement of discussion, answering specific questions, and positive response to class answers. I never once heard the words "no" or "wrong." 8: Instructor was very knowledgeable in her field and competent and effective as an instructor. 9: The instructor. I have rarely had a teacher of such intellect and knowledge, such organization yet adaptability to ad hoc circumstances, and such a welcoming demeanor. A wonderful class. 10: Opportunity to exchange ideas with others and to learn from our instructor, who is a good teacher. 11: Variety of experiences with many types of collections and materials evinced by fellow seminar participants -- enthusiasm and depth of experience shown by the instructor. 12: Chance to talk with others with similar questions/answers, and not to experts. Really liked all the other participants -- everyone participated but nobody tried to monopolize the allotted question time.

6) How could the course have been improved?

1: Some sort of formal recommended "answer sheet" for our exercises. It was useful to look at the MARC examples and other web examples of records but would have liked to have seen some "how could this particular record have been better if done today." Some sort of summary perhaps from the input by students as to what would be a consensus of best practice if done now. 2: Perhaps a tad of time devoted to types of graphics and photographs. 3: The only way the course could've been improved is if we had stayed another week. 6: No suggestions. 7: I was overwhelmed by the amount of information conveyed. I felt like a child toddling to the ocean for a bucket of water and being hit with a tidal wave. I don't see how anything could be improved upon. It was an amazing feat to get through the information we did. 9: I think it was pretty nearly perfect. The trek to and from the Architecture building seemed a bore at times but not too bad. 11: Maybe just be longer! 12: OK for me since I've used Graphic Materials a lot, but note that for novice users a walk-through of the rules earlier in the course might have been helpful. Also more on hardcore MARC format coding, especially 008 and 00D.

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: No suggestions. It seems like people were appropriately careful in handling the materials. 2: None. Everything was handled appropriately. 3: None. The materials (photographs and prints) were adequately protected. 4: Materials were handled carefully by the class. 7: Everything went very well. 9: No problems in that area. 10: I was concerned by the way some UVa Special Collections material was handled. Maybe a stronger statement by the instructor about not touching photos with bare fingers, being careful with brittle supports, enclosures, &c. 11: We had gloves and were given pretty clear instructions on special handling of materials.

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

1: Monday night lecture was informative. 2: Yes, if for no other reason than learning the history and development of RBS. 3-4: Yes. 5: I really enjoyed the Margaret Armstrong exhibit and learning about the history of RBS and what goes into making it function. 6: Yes! Both lectures were excellent and I highly recommend both. 7: N/A. 8: Yes. 9: I attended both and they were worth attending. The Sunday night lecture went a little long given that many of us were tired from traveling. 10: Interesting to learn about RBS, but would have liked more about Margaret Armstrong the second night. Was expecting lecture to be about her and her work, not RBS. 11-12: N/A.

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

1: I'd seen some of the materials before but was pleased that there were a few new things to look at. 2: N/A. 6: Yes. I saw objects I would not have seen otherwise, and RBS staff were close by to answer questions and explain more about particular books and processes. I particularly enjoyed TB's Linotype demonstration. 7: N/A. 9: I was there only briefly, having just returned from the Library of Congress field trip and wanting something to eat. 11-12: N/A.

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

1: I think so. We'll see when I next try to apply what was presented to my work back at my home institution. 2: No doubt about it! RBS provides a rare opportunity to gain a great deal of exposure to a topic in a concentrated period taught by -- at least in my experience -- extremely well-qualified instructors. I hope to have the opportunity to return in future for me. 3: Yes! I would highly recommend this course -- especially as taught by HZ -- to anyone who has to catalog or process visual materials. HZ was clear, concise, and consistent in her instruction, and she demonstrated a wonderful sense of humor. This was a great experience. 4: Definitely -- I would recommend the experience to colleagues looking to hone their professional skills or expand their knowledge of the subject of visual materials cataloging -- I am quite grateful to have had an opportunity to receive instruction from someone with the caliber of expertise as this instructor. 5: Yes. Advice: make a thorough list of ALL of your questions, bring some of your records with you to go over after class and make changes or practice what you've learned. 6: Yes! I most highly recommend this course to all catalogers. 7: Good idea to bring the afternoon break to the offsite course. Definitely got money's worth. 8: Yes. I take a lot of continuing education courses and attend many workshops. This course ranks among the most worthwhile and a definite bargain. 9: Yes, very much yes. I would recommend HZ's course unreservedly. 10: Yes, absolutely. It's helpful to come knowing MARC and ACRL well, but one learns how to build on that base very well even if inexperienced with/about visual materials. 11: Definitely got money's worth. Advice is to respect the reading list and participate fully in the "Advices" before coming to RBS to maximize the learning experience. 12: Yes, very helpful. Quite intense. Grateful for the offer of future help and question answering from HZ.

Number of respondents: 12


Percentages

Leave Tuition Housing Travel
Institution gave me leave Institution paid tuition Institution paid housing Institution paid travel
92% 92% 68% 75%
I took vacation time I paid tuition myself I paid for my own housing I paid my own travel
8% 0% 16% 17%
N/A: self-employed, retired, or had summers off N/A: self-employed, retired, or exchange N/A: stayed with friends or lived at home N/A: lived nearby
0% 8% 16% 16%

There were six archivists or manuscript librarians (50%), three general librarians with some rare book duties (25%), two rare book librarians (15%), and one art cataloger (8%).


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