A simple assessment was taken at the end of the project. Four categories were arranged in a square: what worked, what didn't work, lessons learned and a-ha moments. Several themes emerged from the assessment.
"(The) project provided lots of opportunities for problem-solving/troubleshooting real world digital projects, thus it was a good learning experience for being able to relate to researchers".
Outside help was extremely important to the success of the project. Over and over again members expressed their gratitude for the contributions made by Amy McDonald and Michael Daul, neither of whom officially members of the project. Amy McDonald was invaluable in her guidance and hard work in the University Archives. Michael Daul was generous in the work and assistance he provided for the technical side of the project and its public face. We all acknowledge that the project could never have succeeded without their help.
Researching in the University Archives provided many new research skills. Several people mentioned their experience of researching in the University Archives, sometimes described as complex and time consuming process, and "hard". They were impressed with the rich resources in the archives. Many of these same comments described how rewarding it was, and one person wrote that it was really fun. Another person wrote, "I feel better positioned to help researchers now that I've done a tiny amount of research in the Rubenstein Library".
We worked well together. In terms of the work itself, members expressed appreciation for their colleagues. Breaking up the project into separate work teams made it achievable, as it was easier and more practical to work in small groups. Much of the work within teams could be done asynchronously which made it easier to manage. Coordinating the work across teams was successful. One complaint was that some team members carried more weight than others, predictable with group projects.
We learned how to manage a digital project. Scoping the project required a lot of background research. Having clear goals was very important, as were the project champions Kelley Lawton and Arianne Hartsell-Gundy. We learned the complications of documenting the process: both Basecamp and Box were used. Meeting minutes were crucial to tracking the progress of the project but they were very inconsistent, for example some of them didn't even have dates which made it difficult to create a timeline.
We learned many new skills. As well as learning how to do archival research, we added many other skills, including project management and technical tools. These included Timeline GS, GIMP, Drupal, Gantt Charts, Basecamp and Box. One person noted that not everyone learned everything and that we might have benefited from "whole group reflections".