Background In Nigeria every year different communities engage in one form of feud or another. This barbaric behaviour has resulted in great losses of property and human lives.

Purpose This study was carried out to develop strategies for preventing communal clashes using library and information services in South East Nigeria.

Methodology The approach adopted was to use a survey research design. The area of the study was South Eastern Nigeria, made up of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo. Three research questions were used to address the issue thus: (1) Causes of communal clashes. (2) Services of public libraries. (3) Ways information and library services could be used to prevent communal clashes among the people. Questionnaire and interview would be used for data collection. The librarians and the members of the community would form the population. All the librarians of public libraries would fill the questionnaire while the village or community heads only would be interviewed. Data from questionnaire would be analysed using frequency counts and percentages while data from interview would be incorporated in the discussion.

Findings It is expected that the study will reveal ways the library and information services could be offered to help and prevent communal clashes. Based on the findings, appropriate recommendations will be made for preventing communal clashes using library and information services.

Implication The results and discussions imply that it is highly important for public libraries to begin to re-assess their roles in terms of how they contribute to the knowledge economy of the society.