The era of judging a book by its cover won't end anytime soon thanks to a new high-tech book-making machine being used at the Illini Union Bookstore.
Last year, employees started using the Espresso Book Machine on site to format, print and bind textbooks, original academic and literary works, as well as some of the 5 million public domain or commercially licensed titles available online.
"There are a growing number of titles becoming available," said Scott Baseler, the bookstore's event coordinator. "In some instances we can order the book, but there are many we wouldn't be able to order because nobody prints it anymore."
The machine, the only one like it in Illinois and just one of 30 in use in the United States, is actually several machines working in unison. The system is connected by a iMac computer and uses a Xerox copier and Epson printer to make the pages. Those pages are sent through an automatic binder, which cuts off excess paper and glues the pages to a thick cover. The entire internal binding process can be seen through clear plastic walls and takes less than 10 minutes.
The result is a not-so-technical "clunk" as the book drops into a plastic bin.
"As they need it, we can print it," said Sue Steinfeldt, the bookstore's assistant director of course technology. "We're not a publishing house, but it's another example of how the textbook landscape is changing."
Steinfeldt runs the book-formatting service and has branched out into cover design.
Bookstore managers say they hope the book-making machine will catch on with faculty members and students looking to print their own original works, including campus-based textbooks, theses and dissertations.
"Right now it's a matter of getting people to know it's here," Steinfeldt said.
The word is just getting out about the service, but there have been many early adopters.
"We decided we wanted to make a book so we could each have a copy," said Kaleigh Niccum, a sophomore in atmospheric sciences whose honors program class wanted just 16 copies of their final project, which to that point had only appeared on a website.
She said it was as simple as sending the bookstore a print-ready PDF of the classmates' work; the whole process took less than a week.
"We even came to the bookstore to see the book printed," she said. "It was a quick and easy process - and it was really awesome to hold your own book."
All the process needs to work is two print-ready PDFs - one file for the interior pages and one for the cover.
At 9 cents a page (plus any licensing fees for a specific title), the service is a bargain over print shop or publisher prices, say store managers. Baseler said it also saves the bookstore money because of the potential for reducing unsold inventory.
Books eligible for the machine can be as small as 40 pages and as large as 800. There also are various size options - from 4 by 5 inches to 8 by 10 inches. The system uses custom ink and paper and special glue pellets for the binding process. Covers are paperback, and color also is available inside and out.
"It's a very complicated piece of machinery and it all works together," Steinfeldt said. "It gives us a lot of capabilities, but it took a little while to iron out the kinks."
She said even the local technician had to learn about the machine because it is so new.
"Not very many people have even seen these machines before," she said.
Baseler said the number of book selections is growing almost by the day. Several online services offer printable versions of books, most of the big publishing houses are following suit, and the U. of I. has a digital archive of already licensed printable materials.
Selections include everything from out-of-print classic literature to trade, academic or public domain materials. Some of the more recent popular commercial titles aren't available.
Baseler said he created a book out of a 1902 Robin Hood e-book and even designed his own cover for it.
"It's the first time it's been in print in English since the turn of the century," he said. "I thought that was pretty amazing. The hard part so far for me has been to hold back, knowing I can print just about anything I like."
Managers say interest in using the machine has even come from off campus through the On Demand Books website, which shows where the Espresso Book Machines are located. (Original content also can be licensed and made available through the network.)
That's how the UIC architecture department, recently looking for a quick way to print a low-run annual yearbook, found the machine.
"We never even met those people," Steinfeldt said. "We consulted by phone, they emailed the files and we sent them their books. Every project that has come in is a completely new challenge. It's been exciting."