One of the many problems faced by the research team as well as the individual researchers asked to participate in the conference and to contribute their own experience to the study of books and their bindings was the subject of the terminology used for bookbinding. This is due to the fact that the terms, their meaning and use not only changed over the course of the centuries but also differ according to the field in which they are used. In other European countries and languages, such as in English, French and Italian, where the study of bookbinding has been going on for several years now, the terminology has been developed, making the work of researchers easier.

In order to resolve or at least tackle the problems linked to the question of terminology, from 2005 onwards the three institutions in the project (the IBR, BCM and ELEVIV) have participated in a European project, the aim of which is to systematize research on bookbinding as well as its connection with production. This project, entitled ''Modern Applications of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Bookbinding'' [SEVY], was put into effect as part of the 3rd Community Support Framework Operational Programme ''Partnerships in Research and Technological Development in National Priority Areas'' and its completion coincided with the publication of the proceedings of the conference. This project is the second phase of the initial research project, and it involved the preparation of a series of databases, which we hope will prove useful to the scholars of bookbinding in manifold ways.

Among other things, a database was created containing the basic terms on bookbinding. This terminology database is the fruit of the efforts of a large working group, which included art historians, philologists, historians, archaeologists, book conservators and bookbinders.

The terms were organized according to the various technical specifications relating to books and, apart from their definitions, they were supplemented by synonyms, translations of the terms into foreign languages and documentary photographic material. It is perhaps the most difficult part of the project, since accuracy in the description, as well as the acceptance and adoption, of the proposed terms is a complex matter and the value of the undertaking will be judged in the future. For the moment, we hope that this attempt, even as work in progress, will contribute to the advancement of research.