An exploratory study of four urban community libraries in Nampula city, Mozambique: do they satisfy community informational needs?

This exploratory study describes the characteristics of four independent urban community libraries in Nampula city, located in northern Mozambique, East Africa. In a country where public library services are inadequately equipped to address the educational, informational and cultural needs of its citizens, the emergence of urban community libraries in the city indicates that the population is seeking better alternative sources of information. The study profiles four urban libraries to identify their role in the communities they serve and determine whether they conform to Mostert's (1998) community library model. A case-study design was used with data collection techniques of structured interviews to collect qualitative data from library directors and librarians, a multiple choice questionnaire to obtain user responses, while further statistical data was obtained from collection, circulation and library user records. Findings indicate these four urban libraries only minimally adhere to Mostert's model and are instead mimicking existing public and school libraries by catering to predominantly secondary and university level students. As a result, the educational, informational and cultural needs of other key groups in the community, such as the illiterate, neo-literate and disadvantaged, are ignored. This is due to a lack of trained library professionals and restrictive library policies.