Don't Get Me Wrong, I Am Totally in Favor of Everyone Learning How to Make Books

[fuzzybluemonkeys]

But if I could do the Spock and/or Teal'c-style eyebrow raise, I'd totally be doing it in the general direction of the folks who take Bookbinding I who clearly have no crafty inclinations whatsoever. Like, I'm not saying you should come in with previous knowledge or knowing how to thread a needle or anything, but I feel like there's sort of a skill-set or maybe even a mind-set wherein you can actually learn those things. And if you don't have that crafty inclination, I have to wonder what makes you look at a Bookbinding class and decide to take it in the first place.

(This post is brought to you by me doing RA hours on Fridays and basically having to re-teach this guy step by step the things he should have learned in class. I mean, there were people in my BBI class who weren't crafty and needed help, but they got the gist, you know?)

Comments

[somnolentblue]

See, I would totally take bookbinding even though I am uncrafty like an uncrafty thing. Knowing *how* ye olde books are put together is rather useful to one who wants to work with them, you know? Especially since there's the need to assess whether they should go to conservation or whether a book has been tampered with in its centuries of existence, etc. *shrugs* So, I could totes see doing it.

[fuzzybluemonkeys]

True*, but I feel like if you're in it for the book nerd aspect, you'd at least have a vague idea of what you're getting yourself into? And I mean, one guy in my class in the Fall stated outright (and repeatedly) that he was only taking the class because he was a senior and he needed the credits to graduate. So, like, there were other non-crafty peeps who were at least enthusiastic about it. And maybe it's just that my interactions with this current winter session guy are sort of limited (and I know from my calligraphy class that winter session classes are intense). And like I said, totally in favor of book structure learnings, I just wonder about the motivation when they're clearly so unmotivated about it.

*this particular class wouldn't necessarily help you with historical book structures, but you'd have to take it in order to take the Historical Book Structures class (which of course is not being offered while I'm here)

[somnolentblue]

Okay, I don't understand why you would take bookbinding for random credits; it seems like there would be other classes better suited for random padding. How very bizarre.

Our (only) bookbinding class is a Masters level class taught by our conservation guy; it mostly attracts MFA students (it's taught through the art department), but there's generally one or two library kids in there as well.

[tobimonkee.livejournal.com]

its like middle school home ec i was suprised that peps were suprised i already knew how to do the stuff cuz its seemed pretty comon sense like to me