A collaboration between the University Library and the Melbourne University Bookshop, the machine is housed in the Custom Book Centre at the Baillieu Library, and is able to print pages to black and white, covers to full colour, and then collate, glue, bind and trim a book from a simple PDF file. 

Project manager Simon Strong from the Melbourne University Bookshop says print jobs from one to up to about 250 are financially viable, and are perfect for individuals, community groups and University academics, students and departments.

“At the moment we are focusing on rolling our services out to members of the University community and academic researchers, but we’re hopeful that in the future we’ll be able to offer the services to the wider public.”

University Librarian Philip Kent says one of the benefits of the collaboration is that many of the treasures from the University’s collections have now been digitized, and in instances where researchers need to work closely with the texts, their own personal book can be printed, thereby easing the burden on some of these rare and valuable works.

He says the University has “dipped its toe into the water” of the new technologies that are constantly emerging.

“The way we read, collect and generally interact with books is constantly evolving, and it is important for a leading research university such as Melbourne to stay up to date with developments,” he says.

More information: www.custombookcentre.com.au

Watch video of the espresso book machine in action at: http://visions.unimelb.ed...

For interview:
Simon Strong -   / 8344 7230
Philip Kent - philip.kent@unimelb.edu.au / 8344 5368