Eric Alstrom received his MILS in 1989 at the University of Michigan School of Information and Library Studies, where he concentrated on archival management and also performed an internship in conservation. After graduation, he apprenticed under James Craven at the University of Michigan's Bentley Historical Library for four years. He continued his training at the Bessenberg Bindery, a private hand bindery, in Ann Arbor, working both on the production side (bound journals and dissertations) and in book repair (conservation and restoration).
After a year of working at the University's Special Collections Library to gain the perspective of the rare book librarian and curator, he moved to Athens, Ohio in 1994 to take on duties as Ohio University Library's Collections Conservator. In 1998, Eric moved to New England to become Dartmouth College's first book conservator. While at Dartmouth he expanded the popular Book Arts Workshop, which had focused solely on printing, into binding and artists books. Currently, Eric is Head of Conservation at Michigan State University and teaches binding for the Residential College for Art and Humanities’ Book Arts Seminars.
To view some of Eric’s design bindings, artists books and conservation work, please visit http://webalstrom.ftml.net/bookworks/