A total of 33 participants attended the first course of the summer school. At the end of the week, everyone received a questionnaire. 29 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!
This new first course of the Eight International Summer School on the Digital Library was a success. 93% of the participants indicated they would recommend the summer school to colleagues in the field, 89% said the summer school was worth its money and 97% indicated that they will use what they learned in practice.
- "The opportunity to reflect on the range of issues raised during the course in an environment away from the workplace is highly valued. Thank you for an excellent program".
- "I think this is the best professional development course on strategic issues which I have attended in some years! I recommend it strongly, thoroughly worthwhile, very thought provoking and absolutely worth every penny"!
- "Good place to meet colleagues from a lot of different countries and have very interesting exchange of ideas, know-how, products, visions".
- "It is very nice that it is so international! By that I mean not only Europe, but basically the whole world! Accommodation, lecture room very good as well".
- "Taken as a whole, the speakers' presentations provided a very comprehensive, stimulating & thought-provoking analysis of the many challenges and opportunities for library & information services. They provided just the challenge, intellectual stimulation & excitement I was looking for".
- "Keep up the good work! Thanks".
- "There was a good mix of papers from speakers 'representing' different sectors - university, national, special/corporate libraries plus publishing".
- "A stimulating and challenging two days. Excellent speakers with good ideas which were effectively communicated".
- "The course offered inspirational, energizing speakers and the discussion following the presentations was also stimulating with several speakers effectively contributing throughout. It was an excellent opportunity to grab some effective 'thinking' time and focus on strategic issues in excellent company".
All participants could discover the structure in the programme. Only 19% of the participants thought the programme was overfull and people were confident about the opportunity for discussion.
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 3.6.
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 |
| 7 | 4.8 | motivating & inspiring |
| 3 | 4.7 | stimulating & thought-provoking |
| 8 | 4.6 | clear, structured and argumented lecture |
| 5 | 4.4 | no comments |
33% of the participants indicated that a colleague attended the summer school in one of the previous years. 23% received a paper brochure on the summer school via direct mail. The other participants were informed via the World Wide Web, via a newsgroup, via a discussion list or via a (electronic) library journal. Communication between Ticer and the participants was considered 'very good' to 'good' by 96% of the participants. The combination of e-mail and Ticer's web site to keep participants informed was considered 'very adequate' to 'adequate' by 92% of the participants.
Only a few participants used the Tilburg University facilities to read their mail and these people were confident about the opportunity and facilities to do so. Many people indicated that they didn't use the e-mail facilities on purpose to concentrate on the course and to meet other participants and lecturers.
The quality of dinners and lunches was considered 'good' by the majority of the participants. The duration of the lunch breaks were concidered 'very good' to 'good' by almost everyone.
Of the 29 people who filled out the questionnaire, 20 stayed in a hotel near Tilburg University. Participants were very pleased with this hotel. The price quality ratio was considered 'perfect' or 'good', they thought the hotel was situated in a quiet neighbourhood and almost everybody would like to stay in this hotel next time again.
Four people stayed in another hotel. The price quality ratio of this hotel was considered 'good' and two of them indicated they would not stay there again a next time and prefer the hotel near Tilburg University.
