The Malawi Library and Information Consortium (MALICO) is a specialized organization established on 7 May 2003 to provide and improve access to scholarly electronic resources for libraries and information centres across Malawi.

MALICO brings together universities, research institutions, special libraries, public libraries and information centres to improve access to quality information resources, strengthen professional collaboration, and support national research and knowledge management priorities.

Core Mandate and Roles

• Digital Access: procures and provides access to international, world-class research databases and scholarly e-resources.
• Resource Sharing: promotes collaboration among member institutions to share information infrastructure and professional expertise.
• Open Science and Open Access: drives adoption of open-access repositories and institutional open science policies across Malawian universities.
• Advocacy and Capacity Building: partners with global organizations such as EIFL to train librarians, manage copyright frameworks and support research data management.

Member Institutions

MALICO serves a diverse range of knowledge centres, including public and private universities such as the University of Malawi, Mzuzu University, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, Malawi University of Science and Technology, and Blantyre International University. It also supports research and special libraries including the National Commission for Science and Technology and Bvumbwe Research Station, as well as public library institutions such as the National Library Service of Malawi.

Key Projects and Collaborations

• Research Data Management Project: a collaborative initiative with EIFL supporting institutional data-sharing platforms and research data management plans across higher education institutions.
• National Digital Repository: jointly managed with the NCST and the National Library Service to preserve and disseminate local Malawian research documents online.
• Network Infrastructure: MALICO contributed to early academic connectivity and acted as a precursor to the Malawi Research and Education Network by supporting early satellite network systems at major university campuses.