المشاركة المجتمعية في المكتبات الأهلية العامة بسلطنة عمان

Abstract EN

This study defines the aspects of civic engagement as modern roles in public libraries and presents examples of practices that take place in the community-managed libraries in the Sultanate of Oman.

The community-managed libraries in Oman are alternatives in areas where public library services are not yet existed.

The aim of this study, in addition to the scientific addition to the Arabic literature in the field of public libraries, as well as showing the community-managed libraries to be known to the community, government institutions and the private sector and to know their important roles, in order to support them in their national mission and thus enhance opportunities for prosperity and sustainability to these unique libraries.

The qualitative approach was used in the research through a survey with open-ended questions distributed to three selected libraries in order to study the civic engagement in these libraries and to evaluate and approximate this approach with previous academic studies.

The results showed that the three community-managed libraries practice the civic engagement aspects through activities and programs they provide to the community, which in turn helps to sustain and develop libraries.