51st Annual Conference

This panel brings together three speakers on the topic of letterpress printing in academic institutions around the world. With a revival of handpress printing, it is increasingly common for libraries to house working printing equipment within their spaces. We will consider how these facilities provide different types of patrons with unique research and learning opportunities. The conference theme of transformation is considered in different ways: setting type as an embodied method of learning about graphic design and history; printing as an activity that foregrounds process for library collections in an environment that centers product, and using 3D technologies to create affordable teaching tools that facilitate hands-on bibliographical instruction and research. While libraries have collected the printed word as long as it has been produced, situating the making of printed content within the library context is a relatively new, and growing, enterprise. It has been demonstrated that letterpress printing can form and strengthen engagement ties with communities for libraries. What else can a printing press help you do? This presentation will give an overview of our experiences setting up and running letterpress studios and provide three methods of examining how these spaces can transform research and learning. First, we show how students in disciplines as diverse as graphic design and history can benefit from course instruction in printing and book arts to deepen their understanding. Second, how letterpress in the library can open up the possibilities of a process-based orientation for institutions. And finally, reports on efforts of the 3Dhotbed project to build a community-populated repository of open-access, 3D-printable teaching tools for those engaging in bibliographical instruction and research.

Speakers
Anne Goodfellow, Rare Books & Special Collections Liaison Librarian, Fisher Library, The University of Sydney
 
Courtney “Jet” Jacobs, Head of Public Services, Outreach, and Community Engagement, Library Special Collections, UCLA Library
 
Jamie Vander Broek, Librarian for Art & Design, University of Michigan
Kyle Clark, Conservation Technician, Instructor & Liason, Books Arts Studio, University of Michigan

Moderator
Jennifer Garland, Interim Head Librarian, Rare Books and Special Collections, McGill University

Sponsored by
McGill University Libraries
University of Michigan Library