It is my view that you need to look carefully at the way Aboriginal people are portrayed in libraries, and you need to reach out to Aboriginal people and show us that we are welcome to participate in an area which we were excluded from for a long time.

(Mick Dodson 1993)

We can and ought to demand restricted access to some records. But in respect of any particular item, it must be the indigenous people with authority in the particular group who own the information who advise on research and curatorial practices.

Marcia Langton

The second point is, once you've got librarians who are able to relate to Aboriginal people warmly, then you have to find a way in which you can strengthen your librarians to be strong enough to get out of their buildings and go into the community. The third point is that, once you've got out there into the community and the people like you, then is the time to invite them back into the library.

Maisie Wilson 1979

We have been referred to and catalogued as 'savages' or 'primitive' while Western industrial peoples are referred to as advanced and complex.

(Mick Dodson, 1993)

There is information that is restricted, that our children cannot learn about, there is information that is restricted even to adults, there is information that is of a secret or sacred nature, that many people have no knowledge of or access to. That knowledge is only there for certain people to have access to.

(Galarrwuy Yunupingu, 1986)

No person is likely to willingly go to a place which portrays or displays them in a way that is alien and degrading.

(Mick Dodson, 1993)

There is no requirement for Aborigines to be members of the governing boards or councils, no provisions for some form of Aboriginal or advisory committee…

(Henrietta Fourrnile, 1989)

Because this is what we have got to get, Aboriginal staff in libraries, if we are going to have Aborigines in libraries.

(Maisie Wilson, 1979)

I strongly urge that we ensure that cross-cultural training is a requirement of library training by ensuring that it is on the library education agenda. Ideally these skills should be taught early in learning institutions and continually maintained in work places so that we can provide an equal service to all people.

(Phyllis Williams, 1993)

Ignorance and fear on the part of the dominant communities often influences the way those societies deal with indigenous communities. Libraries have a duty to dispel that ignorance.

(Wharehuia Hemara, 1992)

Copying and Repatriation of Records - quote required...

Digitisation provides opportunities to improve Indigenous Australians’ access to historical and contemporary cultural and Indigenous knowledge materials which are currently dispersed in institutional collections across the nation.

(Martin Nakata, 2006)