National Library Service of Malawi

The National Library Service of Malawi is the legal deposit and copyright library for Malawi. The National Library Service of Malawi is run by the Malawi National Library Service Board. The Malawi National Library Service Board is a Statutory Corporation established under the Act of Parliament, No. 31 of 1967.^[1]  The main task of the Service is to operate nationally distributed public library and information services in Malawi. Their declared mission is to ensure that Malawians have access to educational training, access to materials for leisure and access to materials that can provide information for national development. Specifically they promote, establish, equip, manage, maintain and develop the fifteen libraries in Malawi.

National Library in Lilongwe, 2018.

National Library Service, Malawi

Agency overview
Formed	1967
Headquarters	Lilongwe, Malawi 15.784687594941422°S 35.00851210709746°E / -15.784687594941422; 35.00851210709746
Website	www.nls.mw (Automated Accessibility Score = 6 decimal)

Libraries in Malawi

There are 15 libraries in Malawi being managed by the National Library Service. On average, each library provides access to 146,000 individuals each year or around 400 people a day. In the capital Lilongwe, four libraries were built in partnership with the Building Malawi organisation^[2]

The National Library Service is funded by the Malawi government, although many of their books are sourced through the UK charity Book Aid International. The National Library Service places orders for the books they require, and new books are dispatched to Malawi. By providing new and required books, the arrangement enables the government to cover the costs of staff and library management.

Programmes

Malawi Folktales Project^[3][4]

Malawi Folktales Project aims to collect and document the tradition of folktale and their culture of storytelling for education purposes. The aim is to help safeguard Malawian cultural heritage before it disappears in this age of mass communication.

Sony Corporation, at the request of Malawi National Commission for UNESCO and the Global Future Charitable Trust (GFCT), provides audio-visual recording equipment and technical training for locals, via the National Library Service, to collect, edit, and digitize (document) the valuable and rich traditional culture of Malawians and pass it down to children of the next generation.

Malawi Library and Information Consortium (MALICO)

Malawi Library and Information Consortium (MALICO) was established on 7 May 2003 and registered as a Trust on 8 March 2004. MALICO's main objectives are to encourage cooperation among information stakeholders, influence information policy at the national level, work for adequate ICT infrastructure for members, especially sufficient internet bandwidth; to assist in the development of appropriate ICT skills at all levels and facilitate access to electronic journal articles in international databases. The consortium also organises and digitises Malawian content. It has also assembled and preserved indigenous information and provided access to that information in many formats for all Malawians. ^[5]

Web accessibility

On september 2025, the website of the National Library Service of Malawi was tested for conformance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), in its version WCAG 2.2, using Popetech, Wikidata Q136356968 as evaluation platform, which, in turn, uses WAVE web accessibility evaluation tool, Wikidata Q136357132 as automated web accessibilty evaluaton tool (AWAET).

The website of National Library Service of Malawi obtained a score of 6 decimal out of 10. This is known as Automated Accessibility Score provided by Popetech, which, in turn, uses WAVE web accessibility evaluation tool. The test was taken on September 2025 as part of a research on web accessibility of national libraries around the world ^[6].

This result means that the website of National Library Service of Malawi cannot be considered accessible, if the treshold is stablised as 8 out of 10. Therefore, efforts still need to be made to achieve full compliance with web accessibility directives.

This section is added to this page in order to raise awarness about the web accessibility barriers faced by persons with disbilities that limit them to equally enjoying the Web. Web accessibilily is considered basic human right by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities^[7] from the United Nations (UN).

See also

• National Archives of Malawi