The 128-year-old Cantonment Public Library has a finest collection of books. It was originally named as Lansdowne Trust Library in honour of Lord Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, Marquees of Lansdowne, who was the viceroy and governor general of India from 1884 to 1894.

In 1891, Sardar Kirpal Singh Rai Bahadar and Sardar Sujan Singh Rai Bahadar founded a trust known as Lansdowne Trust in Rawalpindi Cantonment.

The trust established Odeon Cinema, the library and Shah Baloot Park on The Mall. To start with, the library had 5,000 books on various subjects. It was located in the Cantonment Market on Kashmir Road.

But in 1980, the library was shifted to its present building on The Mall. The old building reflected the Anglo-Indian culture in the region. The building was constructed in 1892 and remained in control of the British Council.

During the era of Gen Ziaul Haq, the present building of the library was used by the British Council. After some protesters burnt the American Centre on Kashmir Road in 1979, the British Council was shifted to Islamabad for security reasons. The shifting of the library from Rawalpindi to Islamabad caused a great setback to the residents in general and students in particular.

However, in 1980, the then president Ziaul Haq allocated Rs1.8 million for the refurbishment of the library building. In the late 90s, the then president Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari also provided funds for the library. But for the last 20 years, the library has been facing shortage of funds.

At present, the library houses more than 50,000 books, including 25,000 in English and 25,000 in Urdu language. It has 1,547 general and 300 running members. But the library’s membership is decreasing with each passing month due to lack of interest among book readers and shortage of facilities in the library.

The only library in the cantonment areas is still managed under the old manual classification system despite the arrival of the computer system. The library has no air-conditioners in its reading hall and its new hall is being used as court of the rent controller. The upper storey of the library is allocated for Islamic, history and law books and a small section is dedicated for children and women.

No new books have been added to the library for the last five years while officials claimed that they had shortage of space to accommodate more books. The library has an internet facility and a computer but they are not in a working condition.

Amjad Khan, the librarian, said the library was well stocked with books on science, technology, literature, history, law, religion, international relations, commerce etc.

He said the library showcased special collection of books and publications in various fields with special stress on Islamiyat, Urdu literature, computer science and commerce.

Rawalpindi Cantonment Board Executive Officer Sibtain Raza told Dawn that the RCB was planning to improve the condition of the library and increase the shelves to accommodate more books.

He said the old building had been preserved and the interior would be improved soon.

He said to facilitate the young generation, the RCB planned to introduce new computerised system.

He said there was a separate section for women and children where books and publications of their interest were arranged.

“We are encouraging students and the general public, especially women, to visit the library to promote the book reading habit,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2019