Fall 2026

History and Future of Books

Examines the book as an active technology and site of debate across history, digital humanities, media studies, and industry contexts.

offering recorded3 credits

Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Bronwen Masemann

Summary

1 / 6

Historical reviews of Heather Wacha: Reviewers describe the course as potentially easy but made difficult by unclear grading criteria, or as tough grading that requires attending office hours for specific feedback.

Grade history

↗

average GPA
letter grades

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Course details

Credits3 credits

Typically offeredSpring

Subjects

Library and Information Studies

About this course

Framed by a question about what books are, what books have been, and what books might be: past, present, and future. It assumes that "book" is a placeholder term for an object that becomes the site of questions and debates about a variety of media, expressions, and recording practices. A goal of the class is to understand the book as an active technology that shapes peoples, perceptions, and cultures rather than serving as a passive receptacle of them. This course will approach the book from a number of perspectives including book history, digital humanities, media studies, and human computer interaction, as well as examining industry-oriented interests such as e-reader manufacturing, book retail, and publishing.

Prerequisites

Course map

Satisfied Communications A

Satisfied Communications A

LIS 350

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Satisfied Communications A

Professors

Fall 2026

Bronwen Masemann

No course-specific feedback yet.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Bronwen Masemann is the current instructor for LIS 350. Historical reviews for Heather Wacha show conflicting experiences, with one reviewer citing disorganization and condescension, while another praised her enthusiasm and helpfulness during office hours.

HEATHER WACHA is recorded teaching in Spring 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

Section	Mode	Enrolled / capacity	Waitlist
LEC 001	Classroom Instruction	19 / 23	13

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records

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Student experience

the class

Historical reviews for Heather Wacha show polarized experiences, ranging from disorganized and condescending instruction to inspirational enthusiasm and helpful office hours.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.70 GPA, 82.6% A/AB (n=23 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.38 GPA, 76.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades); Spring 2026: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=26 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Heather Wacha: Students interested in manuscripts or European history may find the instructor's enthusiasm engaging, though others report frustration with disorganization and lack of clear criteria.

Topics

Book history and digital humanities
Publishing industry and e-reader manufacturing

Skills

Understanding books as active technologies shaping culture and perception
Analyzing books through interdisciplinary perspectives

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Fall 2026.

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Fall 2026 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records

LIS 350 · Fall 2026

History and Future of Books

Recorded 2026-09-07

Raw records

[
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:544:024780",
    "course_id": "LIS 350",
    "course_uid": "course_afe8efb6c61c900b71909904",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "024780",
    "source_subject_id": "544",
    "title": "History and Future of Books",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]

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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Model outputs & technical records

nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4

LLM outputs across runs

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Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance

{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "fb498d292ecd8d17cc7e0fe316c6462b6a555c3f6beff2e0a42b9f53a59070e8",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}