From Campus to Community: Collaborative Innovation in Building a National Knowledge Culture Across Malaysian Public Universities

Abstract

Academic libraries are increasingly recognized as strategic partners in promoting Knowledge Culture, information literacy, reading engagement, and lifelong learning within higher education. In Malaysia, this national initiative is collaboratively implemented by 20 public university libraries and coordinated through the Public Universities Knowledge Culture Committee, with programme achievements reported annually to the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (MOHE). Since its implementation, the initiative has demonstrated remarkable national growth. The number of Knowledge Culture (known as Budaya Ilmu Universiti Awam) programmes increased from 753 programmes in 2024 to 1,413 programmes in 2025, representing an increase of 660 programmes (87.6%). During the same period, community participation reached 270,146 participants nationwide. As of June 2026, an additional 1,025 programmes involving 327, 370 participants had already been held across the Seven Knowledge Culture Strategic Pillars, demonstrating the sustainability and continued expansion of the initiative. The Public Universities Knowledge Culture Portal functions as the national platform for programme registration, reporting, benchmarking, resource sharing, performance monitoring, and dissemination of best practices. Through this collaborative ecosystem, academic libraries have transformed from traditional information providers into strategic knowledge partners, strengthening intellectual engagement, scholarly collaboration, and lifelong learning while supporting Malaysia's aspiration to become a knowledge-based society.