A total of 20 participants attended the first course of the summer school. At the end of the week, everyone received a questionnaire. 16 questionnaires were returned. Participants spent a considerable amount of time on the evaluation. A lot of suggestions and comments were given, which were all very valuable for Ticer. We would like to express our gratitude for that!
The first course of the seventh International Summer School on the Digital Library was a success. All participants indicated they would recommend the summer school to colleagues in the field, said the summer school was worth its money and indicated that they will use what they learned in practice.
- "This course is excellent value for money, covering the whole area very comprehensively from all angles. It is equally relevant to someone not working in libraries (such as myself) and gives very useful practical information that can be applied in real-life situations for any organization embarking on major organizational change."
- "An inspiring and very focused Change Management course for those who are embarking or thinking about change in their organization. The course content is very relevant and well articulated in context."
- "My 'batteries' are recharged with theory, ideas, but most importantly, with positive energy."
- "In this very inspriring course, everybody was encouraged to share knowledge, experience and information in an air of openness. Every minute was valuable."
- "Very successful in bringing together people from other countries who will depart as friends. Course content: very relevant to the management of change. Excellent! Thank you for the weather!"
- "Excellent case studies. These have proved to be a particularly valuable element of the course."
- "Excellent speakers. Good interaction between the speakers and the group."
- "Organisation of the course really was perfect."
All participants could discover the structure in the programme. 38% of the participants thought the programme was overfull and thought the programme should give more opportunity for discussion. An imaginary case study was used throughout the programme to put the knowledge gained in practice. This case study approach was thought very useful by 94% of the participants. General suggestions on the programme was to pay even more attention to human resource management.
In the evaluation, participants could rate a programme item 'extremely good', 'good', 'neutral', 'bad' or 'extremely bad'. With their ratings, we calculated a score from 0 to 5, with 5 being the maximum score. The average score was 4.4.
The following lectures were rated as the best. For privacy reasons, the lecturers are indicated by numbers which correspond with the numbers in the syllabus given to all participants and lecturers.
| Syllabus number | Score | Comments |
| 10 | 4.8 | excellent |
| 2 | 4.8 | inspiring and entertaining |
| 8 | 4.7 | excellent case study |
| 5 | 4.6 | no comments |
The results of the evaluation are not a reason to change our promotion. 47% of the participants indicated that a colleague attended the summer school in one of the previous years. 23% first learnt about the summer school on the Internet and 12% of the participants received a paper brochure on the summer school via direct mail. Communication between Ticer and the participants was considered 'very good' to 'good' by 94% of the participants. The combination of e-mail and Ticer's web site to keep participants informed was considered 'very adequate' to 'adequate' by 81% of the participants.
Only 33% of the participants used the Tilburg University facilities to read their mail almost every day. Most of these participants agreed that they had plenty of opportunity to read their mail in the library. 50% of the participants found the computer facilities at the university 'excellent' or 'good'.
The quality of dinners and lunches was considered 'very good' to 'good' by 94% of the participants. The duration of the lunch breaks were concidered 'very good' to 'good' by 81 %. People had differing opinions about the duration of the coffee breaks.
Of the 16 people who filled out the questionnaire, 11 stayed in a hotel near Tilburg University. Participants were very pleased with this hotel. The price quality ratio was considered 'perfect' or 'good' by all of them, except four (neutral). Everybody thought the hotel was situated in a quiet neighbourhood and nobody would rather stay in a hotel in the city centre next time.
Three people stayed in student rooms. The price quality ratio of the student rooms was considered 'perfect' by 2 participants, one was neutral about this. The student rooms were not considered very clean. Two people indicated they would not stay there again a next time.
