Bookmaking and Miniature Books
Building Community, Improving Well-being
Infophilia, a Positive Psychology of information | June 7, 2025 | Vol. 3, Issue 32
✨Welcome to Infophilia, a weekly letter on how our deep love of information and connection can help us live wisely and well. Here, I explore the hyper-evolving terrain of our digital lives with care, curiosity, and conviction, asking how we might shape information lifestyles and knowledge cultures that sustain ourselves and society. These letters are my living lab, a space to refine my writing voice and reach new readers who, like me, believe knowledge should nourish, and information should heal, not harm.
Curious how this path began and where it’s headed? Start with my foundational piece on Infophilia and the Dopamine Connection (2023), the origin story. Explore recent thoughts in Serendipity’s Charm (2025). Browse key sections like Artificial Intelligence and Infophilic Information Styles for a preview of my book, Infophilia Unbound. You can also check out the full Archive, Local News, and Knowledge Structures Toolbox.
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Dedication
Today’s essay is dedicated to my husband, the love of my life, a tech genius, ethical and wise, and the architect of innovations that solve problems and inspire wonder.
Corrected 06/08/25: I’d previously written that preliminary research indicates that miniature books aren’t a significant activity in India. That’s incorrect. India has played a role in the global history of miniature books. The Guiness World Record for the largest miniature collection of 3,137 books, was held by Sathar Adhoor of Thrissur, Kerala, in southwestern India, as of 2016; Siddhartha Mohanty of Bhubaneswar, Odisha is reputed to have ~4,000 from 40 countries, with his oldest dating back to the 16th century. As noted, I’ll be including more about India (and China) in my book.
Cite as: Coleman, Anita S. (2025, June 7). Bookmaking and miniature books: building community, improving well-being. Infophilia, a positive psychology of information, 3 (32).
Bookmaking and Miniature Books
Building Community, Improving Well-being
Bookmaking is a culturally considerate and globally relevant practice for those seeking to engage communities and improve well-being.
Picture this: On a summer day, in a Southern California workshop, a small group of people from young adults to seniors learn to bind a book using Coptic stitching, while across the world, an Indian DIY crafter creates YouTube videos teaching how to make books no bigger than a matchbox. Both are participating in ancient traditions that modern science is just beginning to understand — bookmaking and miniature books as powerful tools for community engagement and personal well-being.
Beyond Reading: The Craft of Books
We now know quite a lot about the human brain on books. Reading shapes the brain and the mind far beyond basic literacy — it's beneficial for the developing prefrontal cortex in children and teens, supporting cognitive, social, and emotional skills. Reading enhances critical thinking, information literacy, memory, and problem-solving while fostering emotional intelligence, empathy, and emotional resonance. Reading stimulates neural pathways related to language, comprehension, and imagination, supporting lifelong brain plasticity and cognitive health. It promotes focus, attention, and stress reduction, helping preserve cognitive function and memory into old age, even lowering dementia risk. These wide-ranging benefits are validated by science and form the basis for therapies like bibliotherapy, poetry therapy, and writing therapy, which are increasingly offered by professionals in healthcare and counseling settings.
But what about making books?
Enter two fascinating trends quietly revolutionizing how the GLAM professions (Art Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) are engaging with their communities:
Bookmaking as craft includes everything from polymer clay book earrings to artist books integrating calligraphy, drawing, printmaking, and origami, to the actual making of zines, hand-sewn book binding, and even altered bookmaking — the destruction and rebuilding of existing books.
Miniature book publishing represents a niche segment of the publishing industry that's been featured in major news outlets like The Guardian and Financial Times, as well as library and museum exhibitions. We know book publishing has sky-rocketed (from ~20,000 titles per year to over 2 million). Digital printing technologies have democratized publishing and advances in high resolution digital files and precise printing have facilitated a surge in unique, personalized, and niche miniature book projects. But we don't know exactly how many miniature books are published each year. The industry focus tends toward broader shifts like self-publishing and the resurgence of physical books as luxury items.
Miniature book creation, miniature book collecting, and miniature book publishing are different things but they’re all growing. Miniature book publishing especially has notable activity in the United States, Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Japan, Argentina, Peru, Belarus, and quite a few more; the Baku Museum of Miniature Books in Azerbaijan holds the largest collection from 83 countries. The US is also a major center for DIY miniature book making, collecting, and publishing with prominent publishers like Running Press, Miniature Editions, and Ariel Books — see the miniature book published by Andrews and McNeel (Ariel Books) in my inset photo in the featured image above.
I’m also researching about miniature book creation, collection, and publishing in India, China, and other countries and my book chapter will have more. Miniature art forms are historically significant in India. The Guiness World Record for the largest miniature collection of 3,137 books, was held by Sathar Adhoor of Thrissur, Kerala, in southwestern India, as of 2016; Siddhartha Mohanty of Bhubaneswar, Odisha is reputed to have ~4,000 from 40 countries, with his oldest dating back to the 16th century. I’ve personally seen miniature books in Tamil (print and palm leaf). The DIY miniature book creation video mentioned above was made in 2023 by Sky Goodies, an Indian brand known for creative paper crafts.
Reconnecting Heritage Through Craft
Major museums like The British Library and The Metropolitan Museum of Art now regularly offer book arts workshops highlighting global traditions. African worldviews are often undervalued or overlooked, and not often associated with printmaking. Yet Adinkra symbolism — which originated with the Akan people of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire and represents different proverbs, philosophies, and wisdom — has been shown in studies to have positive impact when used to help African-origin citizens and new immigrants in Western countries reconnect with their heritage.
This goes beyond preserving cultural heritage. Bookmaking represents a form of creative expression and art therapy that contributes to well-being, though there's less formal research specifically on its psychological benefits compared to reading or writing therapy. Similarly, while miniature books are recognized among collectors and artisans, there's little scientific research directly linking miniature bookmaking or collecting to well-being.
Yet both practices connect to infophilia — our deep human drive to find meaning and connection through information engagement.
The Science of Creative Information Engagement
There’s robust research support for bookmaking's therapeutic benefits in art therapy settings—improved well-being, emotional processing, enhanced resilience. Miniature books, however, represent largely uncharted territory. Yet their use in memory work and creative bibliotherapy suggests similar potential.
Both practices share something profound: they transform passive information consumption into active, creative engagement. They bridge individual expression with community connection, honoring diverse cultural traditions while fostering what positive psychology calls "flourishing through information."
Craft Meets Community
From major museums to neighborhood libraries, institutions are discovering these practices' power to build inclusive spaces where different generations, cultures, and skill levels can learn together. The Southern California intergenerational group learning Coptic stitching and the Indian DIY book crafter are modeling how creative information engagement brings joy and strengthens communities.
The exposed spine in the featured image shows Coptic stitching — perfect for books that need to stay open, like sketchbooks and memory books. The miniature book inset, published by Ariel Books in 1996, represents true miniature publishing at 2.5" × 1.5".
Why This Matters Now
Technology is not neutral. It shapes our brains and minds for good or bad. The generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Co-Pilot, Claude, Perplexity, and others are less than three years old. But already early studies suggest concerning effects on the human development of not only children and college students, but also in anyone who uses these tools, however sparingly. The tactile, creative engagement of bookmaking offers something AI cannot: the neurological benefits of working with our hands, the social connection of learning alongside others, and the deep satisfaction of creating something physical and lasting.
Importantly, creative practices also develop self-regulation skills — the ability to manage attention, emotions, and behavior in healthy ways. Self-regulation is a cornerstone of adaptive infophilia theory; our information relationships vary in different contexts and begins with self-awareness of individual information styles. Unlike the solitary consumption and reactive engagement that digital and social media (and mobile apps) promote, bookmaking requires sustained focus, patience, and the ability to work through challenges in community — cognitive, emotional, and social skills that transfer to healthier information engagement patterns overall.
This exploration of bookmaking and miniature books as tools for well-being draws from research in positive psychology, art therapy, cultural preservation, technology studies, and more.
If you know of a bookmaking tradition that exists in your community, whether it's a library workshop, cultural practice, or family tradition, will you please drop me a line? I’d love to learn more. I may even feature it in my book on Infophilia Unbound!