By Salma Butt
British Council Library Lahore has been reopened in June 2016, after a lapse of 15 years. It had a fifty years contribution of highly valued historic role in supporting Pakistani learning and cultural expression. It was shut down due to terror threats back in 2001.
British Council Library was considered as a cultural part of the city like Lahore. The cultural value of the library was monumental as Shahi Qilla, Shalimar Garden, Pak Tea House, Quaid-e-Azam Library which, is considered to be the hub for dialogue and creative expression; where ideas have flowed freely. It symbolises its significance to such a high rank due to its usability.
It was accessible to the middle class, educated people, students from various socio-economic backgrounds as well as elite of the society. It served as symbol of ‘cultural and intellectual fixture to Lahoris’ that inculcated reading habit in our society particularly among young folks.
When I asked a few of the alumni in Lahore that what it was like to experience British Council Library as a student, they said they felt nostalgic. They have carried cheerful memories of grooming and education in the past. It used to be a cultural hub where creativity and ideas took place not only in the form of gaining knowledge through books, but also by participating in the events; cultural nights, musical nights, formal and informal discussions and debates on various topics (social, political, cultural, history etc).
While reminiscing about the library, TV show host Jungu Mohsin said, “The British Council Library has always been an important part of Lahore’s civic and intellectual life. With its beautiful, old world red brick building, it has always fascinated me. I always look at it when driving past and love its beautifully-aged patina. In the good old days, there were no barriers around it, one could just go in and browse. It was permeated with the fragrance of books and enhanced not only our knowledge but inspired us to seek more and more of it.”
Renowned artist and National College of Arts’ former principal Saleema Hashmi shared her thoughts from an artist’s perspective that: “The British Council Library was a very important part of one’s exposure to literature and the arts. It was a sanctuary for the art student where expensive books were on the shelves for us to consult. There were film shows and a music library. The library was a space for learning and intellectual growth.”
Dr Ghazala Irfan, Chair and Professor at Department of Philosophy, Forman Christian College said that “British Council Library was a place where one could research. It was one of the few academic pockets along with cultural activity. It was a valuable addition to the society.”
Many people in Pakistan have fond memories of immersing themselves in English language writing in the past. The legacy of the library is valued immensely across board in a way that its reopening can be termed as a breath of fresh air.
A pre-opening social media campaign was launched by the council to see the demand of the library among youth which received 1m twitter responses in its favor. It shows young people are excited to be linked with it. Particularly students from universities of Lahore are anticipating physical as well as virtual ties with the library to access resource material for research, academic support, curricular and extra curricular information on advance happenings in the first world countries like UK.
The improved reopening of library is not merely physical presence rather it goes beyond bricks and mortar, offering high quality premium digital content to Pakistanis across the country with access to the internet. It is considered to be first of its kind focusing 18-35 years aged young people linking to it on their smart phones as well.
It contains 10,500 books (including contemporary British literature, classics, graphic novels, non-fiction and South Asian literature), 800 DVD, magazines (The Economist to Vogue and Guardian),e-books, e-journals, including JSTOR, databases and reference material, film and theatre, podcasts and much more. Pragmatic side of it promises to provide a platform for skills-based workshops, lively author events and panel discussions, to music gigs and performances.
It is planned in a manner that engages youth to entertain, inspire debate, generate ideas and build cross-cultural understanding with a blend of physical library, digital library and events happening. Successful revival of the library will further spread down to second tier cities (Faisalabad and Multan) with a trickle down effect throughout the province of Punjab by creating partnerships with universities, cultural centres and government of Punjab.
It envisages thoughtfulness and productivity among youth at large because they are the direct beneficiaries of this venture. We are a country with rising young population (over 60% of total population is estimated to be under 30 years of age) and there is a dearth of public spaces. The library in Lahore will serve to be another space to promote cultural dialogue as well as a space where the youth of Pakistan can connect to become an innovative community.
British Council has a comparatively deep understanding of indigenous cultural, social and political context due to its historic presence in the region. It can also bring together UK and Pakistan content to the people across country that can harness relationship between the two countries at social level.