Program Overview

Book Studies

Book Studies is designed to provide pathways for students interested in books as communication, material culture, and artistic media on a global scale. It takes two core approaches—history and theory, and practice—to help students experience how making and creating go hand in hand with thinking and analyzing.

students review books inside a library.
During winter term, students do research on sculptor and Oberlin alumna Edmonia Lewis in the college’s Special Collections.
Photo credit: Zach Christy

Program Facts

  • Program Type: Minor

Program Director

Ann Sherif,
Professor of Japanese

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Winter Term

Oberlin’s four-week winter term in January encourages students to discover the value of self-directed education. You may pursue individual or group projects that are directly linked to your field of study or explore opportunities unrelated to your major. Complete your project on or off campus.

Student Clubs and Organizations

Student Senate, Chess Club, Solarity, the Oberlin Review—these are among the more than 175 student groups and clubs available to you. From politics to faith and identity, and from special interest to sports, Oberlin has an array of clubs eager for new members, new ideas, and new leadership.

Sample Courses

  • FYSP 128 - Media and Memory (4 credits)
  • ARTH 211 - Illuminated Manuscripts (4 credits)
  • ENGL 357 - Inventing America: Histories of the Book, Archive, and Empire (4 credits)
  • ARTS 011 - Visual Concepts and Processes: Screenprinting (4 credits)
Curriculum and requirements

Book Studies Faculty

Book Studies draws its faculty and affiliate faculty from throughout the college to explore this inherently interdisciplinary field of study. Faculty expertise includes the disciplines of art history, fine arts, electronic media, English, East Asian studies, and library and special collections.

Explore Faculty within Book Studies

Book Studies News

Books at Work, In Oberlin

August 13, 2018

A longtime professor of English and now associate dean of the college of arts and sciences at Oberlin, Laura Baudot has long studied how people read, but now she’s asking a different question: why?
Laura Baudot

Learning through the Letterpress

April 15, 2015

In the Letterpress Studio, students get hands-on experience with printing presses to learn about literature and create new projects.
A student inspects a sheet of paper that is draped over 2 wooden rods above her..
View all Book Studies news