In order to fulfill its responsibilities, the National Library Service is running various programmes with its cooperating partners such as CODE, Book Aid International (BAI), Norwegian Library Association and World Bank. The following are some of projects that are currently going on. 

• Procurement, distribution and promotion of use of reading materials.
• Women's Reading Clubs
• Mother and Child Project
• Development Information Centre

Procurement, distribution and promotion of use of reading materials.

This programme is being funded by CODE and will run from 2007 to 2012. The beneficiaries include primary schools, community libraries and public libraries.

The following are the activities under this programme;

Procurement of books and magazines.
Publishing of Children's books
Training of teacher-librarians
Training of members of staff of the NLS
Reading promotion
Enhancing NLS's ICT infrastructure
 

A total of seventy libraries will benefit from this programme.

Women's Reading Clubs

Headley Trust through Book Aid International is funding this pilot project. So far three clubs have been formed and they are all in Lilongwe. The clubs are at Lilongwe NLS Community Library, Mbabzi and Chiwamba.

Mother and Child Project

This is a project that us being funded by the Norwegian Library Association under the auspices of NORAD. The project is targeting mothers and children going to under-five clinics. At present, the project is in its pilot phase and there are plans to roll out the project to other parts of the country very soon. Only Lilongwe District is currently benefiting from the project.

Development Information Centre

This centre has been established at the NLS Headquarters and it is a joint project with World Bank. Facilities at the Centre include  a reading room and an internet cafe.

Book Aid Project

Book Aid International through its Book Trade Project has pledged a 10 000 Pounds Sterling (almost K2.1m) grant to the National Library Service to buy story books for children between the ages of 0 – 15 years.

The grant will as well cover book purchases and related costs such as freight charges, insurance, and clearing/ handling charges. Local book sellers will be involved in the purchase of the books from countries outside Malawi.

Taking into account cultural differences, 75% of the grant will be spent on books from Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe as those countries have cultural values related to Malawi hence their stories could be of great interest to Malawi children.

Apart from the National Library Service, other organizations engaged in a similar project are the National Library of Uganda and Kenya National Library Service. The project will run up to March 2007.