Regarding recent comments and questions about the Antique Pattern Library: I have volunteered with the APL for several years, donating scans of textile publications (in the public domain) from my personal collection, and moderating the Yahoo Group associated with the APL. When I read recent Arachne postings about the Antique Pattern _Library, I contacted Judith Adele Combs, the founder of our Library, asking her to address some of the issues raised in those postings. Her reply is copied below. I hope this information will be helpful and informative to those who have questions about the APL.
In addition to what Judith has said, I will add the fact that the APL Yahoo Group often discusses the various textile techniques mentioned in Library books. References to other sources of information on techniques are often given. Questions are answered when someone is looking for information on specific techniques or patterns contained in our publications. Members often discuss the techniques themselves. This group provides a friendly forum for all the various facets of the Antique Pattern Library. Adrienne Kattke Here is Judithâs reply: Digital Archive does not request donations because it operates out of the University of Arizona computer department. The Digital Archive was created and developed by the late mathematician Ralph Griswold, and his database and tireless work on the library is much appreciated by needle workers. We miss him. The founder of Antique Pattern Library, Judith Adele Combs, volunteered full time for Dr. Griswold the summer before he died, extracting articles from weaving periodicals and other chores, and there was considerable donating back and forth between the two libraries, each of which has different goals and methods. The books that Dr. Griswold gave Antique Pattern Library were re-edited by APL volunteers to make them more useful to needle workers. Digital Archive was developed originally for mathematicians and other researchers. Antique Pattern Library is part of a small tax exempt nonprofit, struggling to cover website hosting costs, with no university connections. This frees us from university limitations, but does cost money to maintain, so yes, we ask for donations. None of the dozens of APL world-wide volunteers and scan donors are paid, and they give much attention to the needle workers and other craft people who use the library â graphics that are edited and can be printed and read on a variety of devices, with clear illustrations and the fastest possible load times, along with much help to any forum member who is having problems downloading and using the pdf files. The database and list of book donors grows daily, and has books that cannot be found anywhere else â treasures we deeply believe should be accessible to all, for free. The current webmistress is Sytske Wijnsma, a Java programmer from the Netherlands who is also an avid crafts book collector. Adrienne Kattke, from New York, runs the forum with amazing patience and good judgment, and Judith Adele in San Diego manages the book donations and volunteers and helps maintain the database. Dozens of volunteers from North and South America, Europe and Asia, scan their collections of books and donate them to the library. Besides our focus on creating a library of books in the public domain which can be downloaded by anyone, at no charge, there is also the goal of preserving these publications in digitized versions before the hard copies crumble and cease to exist. - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://community.webshots.com/user/arachne2003
