The Special Design That Makes Library Books Indestructible

Video written by Amy Muller

[knotcoppercurls]

Don’t underestimate people’s ability to destroy books. Even the ones that are supposed to be indestructible. Sincerely, a librarian.

[Radar_of_the_Stars]

Amy is quickly becoming my favorite person in the Half-as-roster

[CatholicSamurai]

4:17 as a millennial who became a professional bookbinder apprentice last year after a career-pivot: almost all the equipment that we use in binding hasn’t been manufactured in the last 40 years. Oversewers, wire stitchers, board shears, turning-in machines, lead-type makers, and foil hot-presses (with their various attachments) are becoming ever more rarer to find and more difficult to maintain. Some things still exist in a modern form (like ream cutters) but the manufacturing industry that supported bookbinding has basically all but collapsed.

[Rattiar]

I love that Amy writes the scripts that make fun of herself and make Sam sound like a semi-abusive boss. Top marks all around!

[JoolsBurke]

Amy needs a pay rise to recognise her new skills!

[piguy]

Amy actually making the book is one of the most unexpectedly beautiful moments in a 6 minute semi-educational video I could imagine. Give her a show!

[aquaintsound]

Getting my graduate degree in library science - i think people forget that lots of librarians have graduate degrees and skills from computer science and programming, social science qualitative studies, and archiving stuff!

Also copyright law. Talk to a librarian if you wanna hear a rant about how much it costs to license ebooks

[_thereswaldo]

Amy, I know you felt pressured to nail this page of the book because it's visible in the video, but be assured, you did an amazing Anyway, thanks for asking, my day was good but it was hot and cloudy, I do indeed prefer staying indoors, and I do like your handwriting! I would 10/10 read a hand-written book made by you.

[brunorabelo]

Don't feel pressured Amy! We are supporting you!!! I like scented candles

[jomiar]

"Barnes & Normals" was one of the best jokes I've come across recently, as was "Half as Book." I also deeply appreciate Amy's note to us and her ability to confront vulnerability. I'm gaining an increasing appreciation for her, and I hope she's appreciated at HaI. To answer your questions, Amy:
- My day has been pretty crazy when somebody flipped a breaker my experiment at work, costing me over 5 hours of work that had to be repeated for a project that MUST be finished or die this week.
- The weather is warmer than it has been lately.
- Your handwriting is lovely, and significantly more legible than my own.
- Scented candles generally, unless they are actively on fire, are usually too strong for me, but when burning, they are quite nice.

[theorixlux]

Remember to tell Amy her book binding skills are above average! When do we get a second edition?

[iicydiamonds]

Half As Book looks fantastic! Great work, Amy!

[maverick]

Shout-out to Mr.Bookbinder for providing the most amazing email roast I've ever seen in my life

Thanks for showing that 😂

[egpx]

I can’t help but admire Mr Bookbinder’s response to Amy’s email.

[noone]

Quality of materials is important. For my internship, I weeded a lot of 90's kid's paperbacks from the library. Not because they were being read, but because the glue in the spine had dried out, and the whole thing cracked when you tried to open it. We had books from the 40's or older I left because they were holding up better. So yea, quality matters.

[bholdr----]

One of the best parts of this and other very high quality binding is that they will lay open and flat at the page that it is opened to (so it can be read while being on a table or lectern (or... lap?) Without being held. I collect books, and absolutely love, and will pay more for, books with this quality (and of this ...quality).

Cheers.

[FayeVert]

Library worker here, I do the preparing of new books, some in-housing mending and binding, and I recycle the discards. 99.9% of books in a public library are NOT library bound, they're just regular commercial copies. The ones that are, though, are TOUGH. I struggled to cut a 1950s library bound children's book apart with an x-acto knife, while much newer books were falling apart on their own after a few circulations.

Library bindings might not be pretty, but they are AWESOME.

[quehablo]

Its also nice, as library books are sometimes sold at auction and then resold for a few dollars. And therefore you can buy an indestructible, if lightly used, book, for very cheap

[ericsworkshop]

I feel like we need to see Amy in the next Jet Lag season. Also, please tell me that she left "Half as Book" on a random shelf in her local library.

[jamesfrankel]

Loved this episode, I took up book binding 15 years ago as a hobby. Very satisfying to hold a book you rescued from the trash with 21st century materials, elbow greese and 14th century "book knowledge".
Now lets make an episode on how too bind a few bricks together.😅