Trust-building, mobilizing crowds: Social service-driven funding models in public libraries

This article aims to examine how social service delivery in public libraries fosters community trust and enhances crowd mobilization for fund generation with special reference to India. It also seeks to demonstrate how service-induced public engagement can develop a sense of belongingness among the community people without compromising the public character of libraries. The paper is essentially a review of experiences of various public libraries from abroad and India based on literature and website analysis. The article demonstrates how a public library could come out of its ambit of conventional library services and develop into a civic institution to satisfy various social needs, focusing on trust-building measures to encourage voluntary community funding. With examples of activities of public libraries from abroad and India on social service initiatives, community participation and fundraising practices, the study identified contextually suitable practices for adoption in public libraries in the Indian ecosystem.