Course Description
This short course will explore practical approaches and strategies for building a student-centered book arts makerspace—a “booklab”—with an emphasis on institutions with more modest resources. It will be based upon the instructors’ success in jointly conceiving, developing, and directing BookLab at the University of Maryland since 2018.
We will explore start-up considerations, such as physical space and budget, as well as essential purchasing. We will cover a range of tabletop letterpress options and discuss how to source type and other printing necessities. In slightly less detail, we will cover how to organize activities, such as bookbinding, papermaking, and zine making, as well as the integration of newer technologies like 3D printing and laser cutting. We will devote significant time to curriculum, programming, and community building, as well as the challenges of maintaining and sustaining a booklab—including considerations of financials, funding, and staffing. For all of the above, we will address diversity, inclusivity, accessibility, and physical safety.The audience for the course is those persons either thinking about developing a booklab or those currently running one seeking ideas from others. While the focus will be on college and university settings, the course will also be appropriate for those working at the K-12 level or in community-based public arts. Please note the course is not directed at setting up a professional book conservation laboratory.
Faculty
Matthew G. Kirschenbaum
Matthew G. Kirschenbaum is Distinguished University Professor of English and Digital Studies at the University of Maryland, where he is also an affiliated faculty member with the College of Information …
Kari Kraus
Kari Kraus is an Associate Professor in the College of Information Studies and the Department of English at the University of Maryland. Her research, teaching, and creative interests focus on …
Advance Reading List
Required
Ryan Cordell, et al., “Surveying the Humanities Makerlab Movement” (Humanities Commons, 2024). https://doi.org/10.17613/ad2j-cc02.
Courtney “Jet” Jacobs, et al., “The Bibliographical Maker Movement,” Knygotyra 78 (2022). https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1998727/m2/1/high_res_d/27920-ArticleText-62757-1-10-20220627.pdf.
Matthew Kirschenbaum, et al., “Meet the (Book) Beetle: Teaching with a Tabletop Letterpress,” in Pangallo and Todd, eds., Teaching the History of the Book (University of Massachusetts Press, 2023).
Kari Kraus, et al., “Bibliocircuitry and the Design of the Alien Everyday,” Textual Cultures 8.1 (January 2013). https://hcommons.org/deposits/download/hc:31164/CONTENT/praxis-bibliocircuitry.pdf/
Recommended
Matteo Pangallo and Emily Todd, eds., Teaching the History of the Book (University of Massachusetts Press, 2023).
Darren Wershler, Lori Emerson, and Jussi Parikka, The Lab Book: Situated Practices in Media Studies (University of Minnesota Press, 2022).
Course Evaluations
Course History
- 2023–
Matthew G. Kirschenbaum & Kari Kraus teach this course online (6 hours).