BookLab
BookLab is the English department’s makerspace, letterpress printing studio, library, and center for the book arts.
Founded in 2018, BookLab actively participates in the College’s Arts for All initiative and the UMD Makerspace Initiative.
BookLab’s resources include six different hand-presses for letterpress printing; a cabinet full of lead and wood type; two typewriters; a 3D printer, Cricut, and Glowforge; material and tools for paper-making, bookbinding, zine-making, and sensors and circuitry for paper computing. We also have an extensive library of artists’ books, experimental books, how-to guides, historical artifacts, books about books, and more.
We run workshops, host classes, organize events with visiting scholars and artists, and have regular open hours Monday through Thursday. You can schedule an appointment with us or just drop in–even if you’re just curious. We are always willing to teach, demonstrate, and lend a hand.
Instructors! Request a class visit (requests are due by the second week of the semester).
Location: Tawes 3248
What Can I Do in BookLab?
- Print a letterpress bookmark! We keep bookmarks and postcards set up in the press, so you can give it a go any time you walk in.
- Design your own print! Set type to create your own posters, poems, postcards, and more.
- 3D print! Bring in a file, or we can show you how to download and edit one.
- Make! Create a zine, make paper, bind a chapbook.
- Touch! a sheet of 15th-century vellum, a waterproof book, or a page printed in Braille.
- Learn! about book history, physical and descriptive bibliography, and the book arts.
- Chill! on our couch with a selection from our library of unusual books.
Fall 2024 Open Hours
Mon: 2-5
Tue: 1-5, 6-8
Wed: 10–4:30
Thu: CLOSED
Fri: by appointment
BookLab Events
BookLab News
BookLab Staff
Matthew Kirschenbaum
Distinguished University Professor, English
3201 Tawes Hall
College Park
MD,
20742