Contribute


Melbourne Art Library (MAL) aims to be Naarm-Melbourne’s leading centre providing the art-curious and arts practitioners with an open, unique, curated collection of art texts, fostering the expression, discussion and appreciation of art and design.

You can help us achieve this vision, and support sustainable, accessible, and collaborative arts practice in Naarm-Melbourne. MAL gratefully welcomes donations from organisations and individuals - be that time, skills, funds, physical collection items, or advice. The generosity of our donors allows us to continue building our collection of texts and making them available to the widest public possible.Melbourne Art Library is a not-for-profit organisation and a Registered Charity. We are recognised as a 'Public Library', with Deductible Gift Recipient Endorsement. Donations above $2 are tax-deductible.

Have a great idea? Get in touch.

Donations
Funds
As a volunteer-run not-for-profit, all funds directly contribute to expanding the collection and connecting with community.Monetary donations will help us in the following ways:
  • $5 contributes to ongoing operational costs
  • $25 covers processing supplies to add books to our shared shelves
  • $30 covers a month of electricity
  • $500 funds artist fees for creative collaboration
  • $750 offsets rent for our public reading room
  • $2000 funds the purchasing of key texts, focusing on those not held in other local collections
Major gifts will enable us to scale up our reading room, and to safeguard the preservation and growth of the collection into the future.  All donations above $2 are tax-deductible.

Volunteer
MAL is currently a volunteer-run organisation. We appreciate the many individuals who donate their time, skills, and ideas. We are not currently recruiting for volunteers, however do get in touch if you're particularly eager to join the team.

For Information Management students, we offer a practical and unique opportunity to expand your cataloguing and librarianship skills.

Our Donors
Thank you to our many anonymous organisational and individual donors, including publishers, galleries, and bookstores. We thank our 2025 donors David Copolov, Juliana Engberg, Stephen Gerber, Katie Haden, Isobel Harvey, Mark Holsworth, Rebecca Kleid, Kate Knight, Jocelyn Manuell, Ally McNaughton, Michael Robertson, Rob Sheehan, Kelly Williams, Azza Zein and four donors who wish to remain anonymous. 

Thank you to Art Monthly, Buxton Contemporary, Caliper Journal, Candice Bruce and Michael Whitworth, Debris Magazine, Divided Publishing, Dr Kim Siong LIM., Enjoy! Contemporary Art Space, Garland Magazine, Kally Kneale, Malcolm Enright, Michael Phillips, MARS Gallery, Nick Henderson, Rebecca Kilpatrick, Roberto O’Connor, RMIT Summer Art Intensive, Shane Hewitt, Sophia Cai, Institute of Modern Art, This is No Fantasy, Un Projects, UQ Art Museum, Warren Taylor and Juliana Engberg for significant donations of collection material.

Special thanks to Art Library and Information Association, the Australian Cultural Fund, Creative Australia Merri-bek City Council and the National Library of Australia for supporting library programming and activities 2025 onwards. 







Melbourne Art Library, Naarm
We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people of the Kulin Nation as the traditional owners of the land on which we operate, and respect their enduring connection to country. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

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Donate to support independent arts practice.