By: Bilal Kanjal
ISLAMABAD: The atmosphere of Islamabad Public Library (IPL), is surely contributing to the drastically low number of library visitors as it lacks the basic facilities for knowledge seekers, who still hold tightly to the tradition of visiting libraries, in the era of internet and computers.
IPL is established in a hostel building which has created major problems for its management regarding adjustment of the readers, books and the furniture in the building.
The library does not even have an internet facility. The computers were laying in the store rooms because of the unavailability of any internet source.
The library does not have a single air conditioner installed in the reading hall. It has no electricity generators, lacks cleanliness, and only a single water cooler is installed – which sometimes looks functional but cannot provide drinkable water.
In addition, several feet high grass has grown in the plot at front of the library, and nobody bothers to cut that.
The library keeps several years’ old books, covered with dust as there is no sanitation system, making it another cause of discouragement for the readers. Water pump for the building remains non-functional, and the building lacks one of the basic facilities of toilets as well.
Women cannot visit the library as it has no separate section for ladies. Similarly, there is no separate section for the researchers either.
The library official said that they were facing all these problems from the time it was established, after partition from the National Library. “Incomplete staff creates problems in the improvement of the library,” he added.
Bilal Masood, a book lover, expressed his grievances by saying that one of our major failures, as a nation, was the lack of interest for reading, adding that the atmosphere plays a key role for the readers in the libraries, which we, unfortunately, don’t have.
The children’s library is also included in the same hostel building, which consists of only one hall, no furniture and no required amenities.
Shahid Khan, another citizen who lives near the library said, “Libraries are the biggest source of the enrichment of formal education and the scope of knowledge among students, but the public education system in the federal capital is not focusing on libraries – the backbone of the education.”
“People used to come here with their laptops for research, but wondered since there was no online access in the library,” he added.
Another regular visitor of IPL, Shagufta Soomro, said that the environment provided by the administration has given a set back to the readers of Islamabad, as it lacks all the facilities which it should have.
When questioned about the non-availability of basic amenities and the miserable conditions of the library, IPL Assistant Director Amjad Majeed said, “The funds are limited and we work according to the funds available with us, there is nothing we can do about it,” he said.
While talking to Pakistan Today, the library’s Director General (DG) Azam Chaudhry admitted the lack of facilities at the library and said that as things are coming into his knowledge with the interaction of Pakistan Today, they would get better very soon, he assured.
