Building Book Labs Symposium at Skeuomorph Press
Location: Urbana, IL
On 20-21 May 2025, Skeuomorph Press will host “Building Book Labs: Hands-On Research & Teaching in Book History.”
During multiple workshops and sessions, scholars and students will:
theorize experiential research and teaching in book history and adjacent fields
share practical advice about founding, growing, and sustaining such endeavors
make together through hands-on symposium activities
Symposium Goals
better understand the book lab movement in our particular current moment
contextualize it in light of historical phenomena such as the Bibliographical Press movement
expand the conversation to a wider range of institutional, disciplinary, or pedagogical contexts
This event is co-sponsored the by Andrew W. Mellon Society of Scholars in Critical Bibliography, the University of Illinois’ Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Information Sciences, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Department of English, the Bibliographical Society of America, and the Champaign-Urbana Community FabLab.
Funding was provided by the BSA Events Committee through the events funding program.
Event Participation
This event is for pre-approved participants only.
Symposium planners anticipate this will be the first gathering in a series, spread over the next three years, on “BookLabs and Beyond: Imagining Futures.” The series will comprise three symposia at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2025), the University of Toronto (2026), and Yale University (2027).
Our goal for the series is to catalyze a loose network of institutions and a community of practice in critical making in book history, book arts, and associated fields that can grow into a space for innovation, experimentation, and practical logistical support. Each symposium will build on the previous one, shifting in scope with participants and their needs; while each institution will provide a preliminary site for these conversations, we hope that the relationships and collaborations that emerge will be sustained into the future.
Stay up to date on future installments in this series by following Skeuomorph Press & Booklab on Bluesky or by visiting their website.