February 29th, 2004
(Linotype/Reliance) press release
UICB and Printing Services collaborate on Printing Studio
It looked like the end of the line for the Linotype. But the UICB and the
Printing Services are collaborating to bring this wonderful technology back
to relevance, both academic and practical. The Linotype and other working
examples of printing technologies are now available to book studies
students at the 510 sq.ft. Printing Studio at the Mossman building. In a
joint program, students will be able to experience the historical
technologies of print production.
The Printing Studio has already hosted two Linotype tutorials. Student
interest has been high with a total of nineteen students attending the two
sessions. Larry Raid, Director of the
Working Linotype University at
Denmark, Iowa has served as the expert Instructor for these sessions. Other
Faculty interest also indicates the importance of this new teaching facility with three UICB instructors scheduling class units at the Studio.
The Printing Studio is not a museum, but a laboratory for experiencing the
technologies of print production. The primary technology at work here is
the Linotype of the Merganthaler Company. For almost a century this
ingenious line setting and line casting machine enabled the production of
newspapers. The machine in motion is fascinating to watch, while a single
experience at the keyboard of a working Linotype machine reveals how the
daily newspaper got printed on time. Such hands-on study invites the
researcher into a different perspective in which the news is understood as
a commodity produced with
skills, risks and daily physical feats.
Along side the model 31 Linotype students can try out a Reliance iron
press. This is a classic hand press, the production machine of the long
period of hand set type. The type composing banks of the Reliance press contrast the intensive hand work and skills of dexterity that were needed
in the centuries prior to mechanical type setting. The Printing Studio
provides both the ambience and accessories of the shop and factory
environment that stood behind the familiar newspapers, books and serials of
past centuries.
The Printing Studio provides a new teaching resource for the University and
for specialists in book studies. The innovative collaboration of the UICB
and the Printing Services that created this resource promises further
results, especially in the demonstration of newer technologies along side
the legacy technologies of print production. As a result the timeless
efficiencies of the reader and the page will be better appreciated in an
environment of digital technologies.
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February 17th, 2004
blue oak
Kristin’s
website continues to grow and merits your BookMark.
pergamena parchment
Jesse Meyer has a
website describing his wonderful vellums and parchments.
art of the book link
Randy Silverman has kindly linked his students to FotB. View his excellent
syllabus for the Art of the Book at Emporium University.
scholarly communication trends
Turns out that the revolution in scholarly communication is a side effect of word processing, rather than any acceptance of on-line publication as a book equivalent. The new
CIC Report predicts every utilization of digital research methods, but no deviation from a full reliance on the print monograph.
the B word
A new joint program promses to return the B word (book) to the L word (library) in the context of an “information school”. The University of Iowa Center for the Book will now enroll library school students in a joint MLS/Certificate diploma. This is an excellent initiative of Christine Pawley, the
SLIS scholar of the history and sociology of reading.
extreme interdisciplanarianism
The most extreme interdisciplinary group on campus is the
UI Collection Coalition. This group is the progenitor for an official Collections Advisory Committee soon to be created under an emerging, campus-wide collections policy.
migration of the Center
The University of Iowa Center for the Book is migrating to the
Department of Interdisciplinary Programs. Adminstrative efficiency and enrollment growth are anticipated. Elaborations of the interdisciplinary quality of book studies will follow including the UICB cross over to other DIP components.
information universe school
Not time and space, but information surrounds us. Professor Danielle Plumer has kindly linked to FotB at her
Information Technologies and Professions course site.
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February 11th, 2004
book scan 1200 (pph)
The
Kirtas scanner is another mature top down, auto page turner.
“the APT BookScan 1200ô will revolutionize and streamline the way all bound documents are scanned, dramatically increasing the availability of these documents.”
book scanning robot
“The machine itself reminds one of a giant-sized copier. It operates quickly and seamlessly and includes such neat touches as an air-blowing mechanism to separate pages that stubbornly stick together. The demonstration was impressive, as was the energy and commitment of a university librarian eager to digitize the knowledge of the past for the readers of the future.”
4digitalbooks
Robotic page turning and topdown scanning increases productivity of hand scanning of books by a factor of five. That mirrors a productivity increase associated with the transition from hand set to machine set type. As such it indicates where we are in the progression from isolated to shared print books.
book culture at the crossroads
The
Book and Computer site is growing with excellent features and interviews .all projecting the role of the codex as the destination of digital access.
“Exploring the future of the printed word in the digital era.”
bookmobiles for the digital age
Brewster Kahle’s
Bookmobile doesn’t seem like a replacement for public libraries. The distinction between “a book on demand” and “any book printed on demand” is not that slight. But the bookmobile does converge with the larger future of the print book sustained by digital access.
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February 3rd, 2004
Dean movement wins
“If you stop and think about it, what we’re doing, what we’ve done, what we continue to do – it defies logic.
We’ve mounted the most successful insurgent campaign in decades, perhaps centuries. We’ve outraised all the party favorites, and outlasted some of the obvious choices. We’ve been the lead story, even when we come in second in all the news media, for better or worse. We have the whole country’s attention and we’re showing people they do have a role to play in all of this. We’ve set the agenda. We’ve defined the issues.
They can’t believe how serious we are, because it all seems so effortlessly amateur. Republicans can’t do this. The Democrats couldn’t do this. We did it. We’re doing it.” (from the
Blog for America)
so many books
Blogspot
So Many Books has kindly linked to FotB.
discovering (and delivering) Dickens
“With this project, we invite you to reenter the world of serial publication and of family reading circles.” Stanford’s
on-line facsimile of a mid 19th century connectivity.
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