Community managed library? / Wan Fadzli Wan Haron dan Roziya Abu

Amongst the various kind of community library models that
haven been developed around the world, it is said the only
model that appears to offer the best prospect of sustainability,
viability, and a suitable emphasis on users’ service quality and needs
are the library authority-led community library; also known as
`community managed library’. The term `community
managed library’ emphasis on maintaining community
private individual libraries that is designated for community
intervention and management of different types. In theory,
such arrangement exists in a very formal basis, which means a
library authority should be able to include the services offered
by such community [managed] libraries for such members of the
community [users]. This paper will enlighten the
pragmatism of the `community managed library’ notion in
Malaysian setting and values. Several current Malaysian existing
community managed library will be put forward as the foundation
of the investigation on this `new’ community library model. The
success and challenges faced by current Malaysian community
library will be discussed.