KARACHI: A seminar on Karachi’s public libraries and citizens’ responsibilities towards them was held at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Wednesday evening.

Aftab Farooqui was the first speaker of the event who raised the issue of Taimuria library where apart from the book reading facility a music academy has been formed.

Fahim Burney pointed out the shortage of facilities and staff at the Quaid-i-Azam Academy and Frere Hall libraries.

Poetess Rehana Roohi said libraries play a huge role in the cultural aspect of any nation. Ideas espoused by a nation and history of a nation are stored in a library. She recalled the time when she was a student of Women’s College and there used to be an aana library on the footpath. The students used to get [literary] books from there.

Journalist and poet A.H. Khanzada said the one who can’t read, can’t write. Quoting eminent poet, the late Jaun Elia, he remarked: “Those who need to read are writing.” He argued reading habits are inculcated from the time when we are taught things at home as children. Many of those present in the press club hall must have read stories of Tarzan and Phantom as kids. One doesn’t need to be overawed by technological developments because one needs to command technology not be commanded by it. He added while it’s good that the issue of Taimuria library had made people gather at the KPC in a big number but if the same number had visited the library [on a regular basis], things would have been different.

Talking to Dawn, Prof Sahar Ansari, who presided over the event, lauded the effort of the organisers for holding the programme because in his view libraries work as oxygen for the educated lot of a city. “We used to have big libraries which, with the passage of time, have vanished. Some of them were associated with the cultural centres of different countries. Apart from that there were Majlis-i-Ilmi library near Merewether Tower, Allama Iqbal library and Jigar Muradabadi library but they were closed down.

With reference to the relevance of libraries in the digital age, he said, “We don’t have the kind of literacy in our society that would allow people to follow digital requirements, which is why the physical aspect will be relevant for a long time.”

Prof Ansari added that institutions and the city administration (baldia) should come up with more libraries.

Tajdar Adil, Firasat Rizvi, Sohail Akhtar, Abdul Basit and Anwar Husain, among others, also spoke. The seminar was held as a joint collaboration among the city’s different literary and social organisations.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2023