Event Description
On May 20-21, 2025, Skeuomorph Press hosted “Building Book Labs: Hands-On Research & Teaching in Book History.” This event gathered scholars and students to theorize experiential research and teaching in book history and adjacent fields; share practical advice about founding, growing, and sustaining such endeavors; and to make together through hands-on symposium activities. We sought to better understand the book lab movement in our particular current moment; contextualize it in light of historical phenomena such as the Bibliographical Press movement; and expand the conversation to a wider range of institutional, disciplinary, or pedagogical contexts. The info for participants is archived here, as well as the schedule.
Future “Building Book Labs” symposia are being planned for the University of Toronto (2026), Yale University (2027), and Texas A&M University (2028).
Event Sponsors
The Andrew W. Mellon Society of Scholars in Critical Bibliography, the University of Illinois’ Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the Bibliographical Society of America, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Information Sciences, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Department of English, Skeuomorph Press & BookLab, the Champaign-Urbana Community FabLab
Event Photos
Photos were taken by JP Goguen, Media Specialist, Main Library
