Helen Garner says the State Library of Victoria has been turned into “party central” and a plan to cut jobs and focus on digital projects will “bring disgrace on the name of our city”, as hundreds of writers express alarm.

Garner has joined more than 220 writers, scholars and researchers in signing an open letter to the library’s board and executive calling for more public accountability, after plans to cut staff and refocus the 171-year-old institution on tourist-oriented digital experiences came to light.

“I’m not a scholar or a researcher but I’m sick about it,” Garner said of the proposed restructure in comments to Guardian Australia.

“In the 70s I wrote my first book [Monkey Grip] there. In those days it was a temple of calm, a demilitarised zone, a refuge from racket, right in the middle of the city. A place where thinking was respected and the conditions for its flourishing were insisted upon. Silence was a custom and a rule,” she said.

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“Then they turned it into a ‘hub’ AKA party central. And now they’re hacking away at the actual librarians? Shame on them. They bring disgrace on the name of our city.”

Signatories to the open letter include Pulitzer prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks, Nobel prize for literature winner JM Coetzee, Nobel laureate Prof Peter Doherty, Booker prize winner Thomas Keneally and dual Stella prize winner Alexis Wright.

Award-winning novelists Charlotte Wood, Trent Dalton, Anna Funder, Kate Grenville and Chloe Hooper, poet Pi O and singer Tim Rogers were also among the signatories.

Guardian Australia understands the letter was delivered to the library’s board chair, Christine Christian, copying in the Minister for Creative Industries, Colin Brooks, on Wednesday evening.

Under the proposed restructure, 39 jobs would be lost and the public-facing workforce of reference librarians would be cut from 25 staff to 10. Many publicly accessible computers would be removed from the premises and critical information technology roles outsourced.

Library staff have accused the institution’s management of undermining the library’s core purposes in favour of flashy tourist-oriented “digital vanity projects”.

The library’s spokesperson said the proposed changes “reflect the Library’s strong commitment to best serving the community now and into the future”.

The open letter echoes recent calls from the library workers’ union, CPSU Victoria, for management to hold a public meeting to explain their proposal.

“We the undersigned writers and researchers esteem the State Library of Victoria, and believe strongly in the importance of its public mission,” the open letter said.

“We are therefore alarmed at the unilateral cuts to its workforce proposed in October 2025’s ‘Strategic Reorganisation Change Proposal’, in particular the halving of the number of reference librarians. We recommend a public meeting where the board explain their plans and reasoning in detail,” it said.

“We further recommend reforming the library’s governance, following common practice overseas, to incorporate the views of stakeholders including scholars and other public users, whose interests have not been considered in the proposal.”

A separate petition launched by CPSU Victoria on Monday had 2,260 signatures at the time of writing.

A library spokesperson said last week that the library’s executive had “engaged and consulted extensively and in good faith with staff and the CPSU on the proposed changes”.

“State Library Victoria will continue, as we always have, to provide appropriate computer access for the public to assist with research and reference activity,” the spokesperson said.

“The Library is committed to upholding our critical role as an essential service providing free and equal access to knowledge and information.”

A spokesperson for the Victorian government said: “The Library Board of Victoria and leadership are responsible for organisational and staffing matters.”