Save Mitchell Library

We're deeply concerned by what is happening at the State Library of NSW – especially the conversion of the Mitchell Reading Room – and shocked that it has all gone ahead so quickly, without more public consultation.

We realise that the Chief Librarian may be acting on orders, and on the advice of others whose deliberations have led to this proposal. But we have a right, as potential users of the library and as citizens concerned with our shared culture, and with the Mitchell as one of its most valuable and loved national institutions, to have our questions answered, and in public.

These questions are:

What exactly is proposed and on what grounds?

Who determined those grounds?

On whose decision and order is this proposal made?

What/whose interest does it serve?

We, the undersigned, call upon the Chief Librarian to convene a public meeting where our concerns can be aired and our questions answered.

Phillip Adams

Stephen Adams

Robert Adamson

Deb Adamson

Adam Aitken

Blake Ayshford

Murray Bail

Barbara Ballantyne

Haig Beck

Joel Becker

Judith Beveridge

Anne Bickford

Neal Blewett

Rosie Block

Dennis Bluth

James Bradley

Doris Brett

Loma Bridge

Barbara Brooks

Jane Burns

Joanne Burns

Donata Carrazza

Brian Castro

Mridula Chakraborty

Mieke Chew

Lucy Chipkin

Stephen Chipkin

Anna Clark

Grace Cochrane

Joanna Collard

Sam Cooney

Jackie Cooper

Miriam Cosic

Anna Couani

Jen Craig

Chris Currey

Satyajit Das

Peter Doyle

Robyn Dryen

Stephen Edgar

Martin Edmond

Ben Etherington

Kate Fagan

Delia Falconer

Suzanne Falkiner

Michael Farrell

Heather Foster

Denis Gallagher

Helen Garner

Juno Gemes

Nikki Gemmell

Hal Ginges

Alan Gold

Eva Gold

Lisa Gorton

Pat Grant

Kate Grenville

Ferry Grunseit

Hannah Grunseit

Carl Harrison Ford

William Heyward

Kris Hemensley

Barry Hill

Ivor Indyk

Shelley Indyk

Antoni Jach

Linda Jaivin

John Jenkins

Gail Jones

Shar Jones

Mireille Juchau

Ben Juers

Evelyn Juers

Tessa Kenway

Louella Kerr

Robert Kenny

Nick Keys

Tess Kloot

Margaret Knight

Sara Knox

Konrad Kwiet

Carolyn van Langenberg

Anna Lanyon

Sylvia Lawson

Josef Lebovic

Tom Lee

Mary Leunig

Jenny Long

Astrid Lorange

Diane Losche

Yixu Lu

Mungo MacCallum

Craig McGregor

Hilary McPhee

Humphrey McQueen

David McRuvie

David Malouf

Diana Marks

David Marr

Sylvia Martin

Alex Miller

Peter Minter

Hilik Mirankar

Drusilla Modjeska

Sam Moginie

Rachel Morley

Stephen Muecke

Sallie Muirden

Jade Novakovic

Colin Oehring

Penny Olsen

Mary O'Sullivan

Stefano de Pieri

Felicity Plunkett

Jeffrey Poacher

Andrew Riemer

Nina Riemer

Julie Rigg

Judith Rodriguez

Jacqueline Rose

Julie Rose

Jennifer Rutherford

Toly Sawenko

Kaye Schofield

Katrina Schlunke

Rosie Scott

Bailey Sharp

Rosemary Shepherd

Alex Skovron

Jennifer Slatyer

Sybille Smith

Vivian Smith

Jennifer Strauss

John Stubbs

Romey Stubbs

Matthew Thompson

Imants Tillers

Isidore Tillers

Sam Twyford-Moore

Anthony Uhlmann

Maria Veber

David Walker

Don Watson

Alan Wearne

John Weiley

John Wentworth

Michael Wilding

Evan Williams

Geordie Williamson

Harry Williamson

Gerard Windsor

John Wolseley

Allan Woodley

Alexis Wright

Fiona Wright