Hi Golin,
Yes, it was about 4 or 5 years ago, and I could agree with your views on the Mitchell Library.
I contacted them about drawings for the SS Bencruachan, one of the ships I sailed on, as I had two sheets of the drawings but wanted the sheet showing the hull lines and frames.
These had been obtained, by someone else, from the Mitchell Library at an earlier date.
Their response was that they had the drawings, but they were too large to copy.
Peter