To find ways around the gluing of the covers I had a go at the binding machine at university. I tried to use double-sided strips, which should glue together the separate pages with the cover. Unfortunately, the method seemed to not work with a booklet as thick as mine.

It was recommended to me, that I should use a different type of strips, which would go around the cover rather than between pages and cover. This would not allow me to have a printed spine, but it seemed like a good compromise.