Pacific Textile Arts maintains a library of over 3000 textile-related titles and videos. The rapidly expanding collection comes from donations by generous supporters and from the estates of fiber artists. The Library is located at our headquarters at 450 Alger Street, Ft. Bragg, CA. It is open Wednesdays from 10:30 – 12:00, and at other times by appointment. Books may be borrowed by PTArts members from the Library location.
History
In 1976, Bettie Roth, the librarian of the Sacramento Weaver’s and Spinner’s Guild was tired of toting the Guild’s books to and from their meetings. She and the Guild arranged to house their collection at the American River College in Sacramento. Thirty-six years later the collection was offered to Pacific Textile Arts. This gift from the Textile Collection of American River College included approximately 200 books and a set of Ciba Review dye journals.
In 2013, the Mendocino Coast Handweavers Guild decided to make their library available to a wider population and move it out of Jill McCaughna’s home. They donated their collection to Pacific Textile Arts. The Mendocino Art Center dismantled their weaving room in 2013 and gave Pacific Textile Arts their book collection. The PTArts library was set up and maintained by Roberta Brockschmidt (PTArts board member 1993-2017) and Richard Sutherland, retired librarian. The current librarian is PTArts board member Joanie Packard with the gracious assistance of Jackie Wollenberg
We give big thanks to all the organizations and individuals who continue to give us books, making our library a great treasure and resource for our members and the larger textile community and the general public. We also set aside selected titles to be used in future classes at Pacific Textile Arts and some are placed for sale. These books and old copies of some magazines are available for purchase during regular Library and Gallery hours and by appointment.
Call: 707-409-6811
Email: library@pacifictextilearts.org
Pacific Textile Arts wishes to convey its gratitude to the Community Foundation of Mendocino County
for awarding us a generous grant to support our library and help mitigate the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic.
Thank you for your support.
Testimonials
We have used our Covid Quiet Time well. Our library catalog is now available online! Once upon a time, looking through our collection meant scrolling through paper pages and lists of books, or wandering amongst our stacks hoping to stumble on items of interest. Now users can access the catalog from their phones or from our public computers. New items can be added to our collection with a quick scan, significantly streamlining the process. This has all been made possible through the time of volunteers both within Pacific Textile Arts and from the broader community as well as a generous grant from the Community Foundation of Mendocino County. Thank you all!
Joanie Packard, Librarian
Its collection of textile related books has been built over many decades, making the Pacific Textile Arts Library, most likely, the only private library of its kind on the West Coast. Beginning in the late 1960s in the San Francisco Bay Area there was a great flowering of textile arts. Books were being written covering all manner of textile related subjects and textile enthusiasts were collecting those books in their personal libraries. Over the years these books have made their way, mostly through donations, to the Pacific Textile Arts Library.
As a teacher of weaving and felting, I use this library regularly as source material for teaching my students. My students have a wide range of interests and motivations for wanting to know more about textiles. Some are retired and looking for a meaningful way to spend their time. Others are young people looking for a career. The PTA Library has been invaluable to me as I work to promote knowledge of textile making and an understanding of the importance of textiles to cultures throughout history and the world.
Adriane Nicolaisen
Member Since 1994
The Pacific Textile Arts library is a gem of a library with an extensive collection of both in and out of print books on the fiber arts. While researching agave fiber processing in relation to fine lace knitting, an obscure topic at best, I’ve been able to piece together a process that both relates to my research while greatly expanding my knowledge of the uses of agave fiber across artistic mediums. Settling into the new comfy chairs in the reading room I was able to spend substantial time sorting through many books – and not so surprisingly, get derailed from my lace knitting/agave focus to a love affair with the discontinuous warp and weft methods used in the lacy Chancay weavings. I see a lateral move into another creative area.
Suzanne da Rosa