Social Capital, Community Libraries, and Rural Development in North West Nigeria: A Mixed Methods Investigation

This study investigated the relationship between community library engagement, social capital formation, and rural development outcomes in North West Nigeria, drawing on communities in Katsina, Zamfara, and Kebbi States. Social capital theory posits that communities with stronger networks of trust, reciprocity, and collective action achieve better developmental outcomes, and community libraries are theorised as potential sites of social capital formation. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was employed. In the quantitative phase, survey data from 450 community members across fifteen villages were analysed using structural equation modelling to test the relationships between library use, social trust, civic participation, and developmental outcome measures. In the qualitative phase, focus groups and community narratives provided interpretive context for the statistical findings. The study found that sustained community library engagement was a statistically significant predictor of bonding and bridging social capital, which in turn positively predicted self-reported community development indicators. An original Community Library Social Capital Model was developed and validated. Keywords: social capital, community libraries, rural development, North West Nigeria, mixed methods.