The Book Arts Tool Map is a map of self-reported book arts tools and machines, privately owned by individuals willing to collaborate. The Map focuses on large-scale and niche machinery such as board shears, guillotines, or fiber beaters for fellow artists with existing knowledge. To best serve users, map data could be filtered via location or type of tool/machinery— a fantastic model of this and a large inspiration behind the map is the Letterpress Commons Print/Trip Map. Tools are identified on the Map with unique icons linked to an artist’s preferred contact method; the Map also features a restricted zoom scale to protect locational privacy. 

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The idea for the Book Arts Tool Map first came to me during the Emerging Artists Roundtable at the 2025 Association for the Book Arts Education Conference (CBAA). Students and early career artists convened as a group to discuss our successes and challenges as emerging artists. The group discussion quickly identified one overwhelming fear: how to navigate losing access to necessary tools and machinery upon leaving an academic institution to continue our practices. I had already struggled with losing access to tools and machinery during the abrupt effects of the COVID-19 lockdown during my undergraduate BFA and returning to rural Maine post graduation. Most often the machines I needed were simple but highly specialized and unavailable at fee-based community art studios.

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It is my sincerest hope that the Book Arts Tool Map is a small step in filling a resource deficit, connecting artists outside academic institutions with the tools they need while fostering collaborative creative community and cooperative research exchange.

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