Young Stationers in Oxford

I went to my first Young Stationers event on Thursday 5th February and it was very interesting. A merry trip down to Oxford University College and I was welcomed by some new faces of the Oxford University Society of Bibliophiles and some recognizable Young Stationers. All to be launched into the fascinating talk about the traditional history of bookbinding at Shepherd's Bookbinders and how they have adapted to trading within modern times by Alison Strachan. 

After a basic leaflet binding exercise, I was compelled to look at Shepherd's work online. I especially like their personalized products, bookcases and leather binding memoirs (which are all things that I would love to create or buy within my lifetime). The one thing that stuck with me from the evening was Alison's explanation to a frequent customer question, "why does it cost so much?" in reminiscence of the people asking me "don't librarians just put books on shelves?". Her response, being:

"Bookbinding is a trade where the training put into developing the skills of a binder to put in around 12 hours of work if not more to receive a quality product, is worthwhile" ...and I agree.  

The thing most people do not readily understand is that in reality, librarians provide specialist skills in facilitating access to information like bookbinders have technical skills in selecting all the elements of a book from the type of paper, backing, glue to its finish, which are irreplaceable skills. We may have modern printing presses but the quality may be lacking. We may be able to digitise or provide born-digital materials but their preservation could be hindered by lack of technology, changes in non-migrating technology or even too much choice in digital preservation tools. This talkative evening could not have come at a better time as the Guardian's cover features the headline that "digital is decaying: the future may have to be print". 

All in all, I will definitely be looking forward to attending some more events like this in the future.