Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB)

Designation of occupation

Bookbinder (m/f)

Duration of traineeship

3 years
Training is provide in one of three specialist areas:

• one-off and special orders
• series book production
• series print production

Field of activity

Bookbinders work in craft or industrial businesses and, according to their speciality, perform a variety of tasks involving different requirement profiles, e.g. cutting, folding, joining, binding and preparing for dispatch, relating to the production of books, brochures, prospectuses or jobbing products.

Occupational skills

Bookbinders specializing in one-off and special orders

• advise clients on appropriate ways to tackle craft-related tasks;
• plan products and internal work flows and design the external appearance of a book binding;
• produce books in small series or as one-off orders using different binding materials and presentations and library bindings;
• restore books and carry out maintenance work;
• mount plans, maps, pictures or photos on different materials and laminate them;
• manufacture products such as folders, files, boxes, slipcovers, cases and library cases;
• frame pictures and other items.

Bookbinders specializing in series book production

• examine and assess the suitability of materials delivered;
• specify the production route and materials flow;
• set up machinery and carry out the different bookbinding tasks involved in fabricating the text block and book case, e.g. cutting, folding, joining, gluing and binding;
• join the text block to the book case to form the book, taking into account different presentation methods;
• pack books for individual or bulk dispatch.

Bookbinders specializing in series print production

• examine and assess the suitability of materials delivered;
• specify the production route and materials flow;
• set up machinery and carry out the different bookbinding tasks involved in fabricating jobbing products, e.g. cutting, folding, stapling, binding, grooving and punching;
• produce periodicals and brochures using stapling or adhesive binding methods in various presentation forms;
• process printed products into special personalized and target-group oriented products and combine them with auxiliary products such as stickers, trade samples, insertions or CD-ROMs/disks;
• package the finished products and prepare them for dispatch.
  

Last modified on: December 12, 2006