Promoting Community Engagement through Public Libraries: Initiatives of the Kerala State Library Council

Abstract

To understand the relevance of contemporary public libraries in India, and how these institutions help to foster community engagement, this paper focuses on the civic engagement initiatives undertaken by the State Library Council in Kerala, India. The council has introduced several community forums at public libraries across Kerala such as Children’s forum, Women’s forum, Youth forum and Elderly forum. Each forum focuses on specific demographics within the community who take part in various programs offered by the library based on their needs. A structured questionnaire was distributed to 111 public librarians across Kerala, followed by interviews with librarians, and direct observations in libraries, which helped gather information on how public libraries are conducting a range of community programs to boost civic participation. The libraries selected for this research included the State library, District libraries, Taluk libraries, Village libraries, Grama panchayat libraries, Municipal libraries and Tribal libraries. The findings show that village libraries play a prominent role in organising civic engagement initiatives when they design and run community forums that suit patrons’ different needs.

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