University Bookstore to unveil print-on-demand machine

In the time it takes to brew a cup of coffee, you could be printing a book, says Martin Deck, marketing manager of the University Bookstore. The Bookstore will demonstrate its new print-on-demand machine on Wednesday, February 29, at 3 p.m.

The Espresso Book Machine is an all-in-one unit that can print, bind and trim a perfect-bound, library quality paperback book in about five minutes. Customers can choose from among millions of books ready to be printed from On Demand Books, or they can submit their own books.

“All that we need is two pdf filess -- one in black and white for the contents of the book, one in colour for the book's soft cover,” Deck says. “With these two pdfs, the machine does the rest while you wait.”

For Wednesday’s launch, the Bookstore will print the first copies of two books published and edited by the students in Marty Gervais’ editing and publishing practicum course: Terry Ann Carter’s Day Moon Rising and Mary Ann Mulhern’s Brides In Black.