
Who we are
In pursuit of providing information to all residents in Malawi, the Malawi National Library
Service (MNLS) established Extramural Service Department (ESD) as an extension and
outreach arm aimed at reaching out to those who otherwise may not have access to
library and information services. The main aim is to bring books closer to people.
There are three types of services offered:
- Rural Library Services
- School Library Services
- Mobile Library Services.
OBJECTIVES
The main objective is to ensure that people who do not have access to library facilities
in their areas have access to reading/information materials.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
Specific objectives are to:
Ensure that people in rural areas have access to information materials
Develop and uplift the status of community and school libraries so they play a
meaningful role in education, provision of information and development.
Create a pool of trained librarians in the rudiments of library services that can
adequately manage and operate libraries and information centres.
FUNCTIONS
The main functions are to:
Establish library and information centres in schools, communities and other
organisations
Deliver and deposit information reading materials in library centres
Coordinate distribution of information materials in all sectors of development
Conduct training programmes for teacher-librarians and community information
assistants
Provide professional consultancy services on management and operation of
library services.