About UC Library Bindery

A Long, Prestigious History

The Library Bindery was established on the Berkeley campus in March, 1908 in order to provide collection maintenance and bookbinding services for the Library’s rapidly growing print collections. The original department staff was comprised of book menders and book binders which were housed in the basement of the Library. It quickly became apparent that the space available in the Library would be insufficient to support the growing print collection so the department was transferred to the University’s Printing Department the following year.

Over the years the department has continuously evolved to meet the objective of consistently meeting the high levels of service and quality demanded by the University libraries. Today Library Bindery Services has grown from a small, hand-operated shop into a highly automated, high volume plant binding up to 220,000 high quality bound books and publications annually. The department provides services to all ten campus of the University and is truly a system-wide operation.
The bindery’s specialized facility incorporates the most up-to-date binding methods and equipment and continues to stay at the forefront of binding technology and industry trends.