ISLAMABAD, March 26: Federal Minister for Inter-provincial Coordination on Monday underlined the importance of libraries in the creation of a knowledge-based society and increasing the literacy rate.

Salim Saifullah Khan was speaking at the inaugural session of the three-day 17th ‘All Pakistan Libraries Conference’ held here in collaboration with the National Library of Pakistan.

The minister said librarians deserved accolades for preserving and disseminating valuable knowledge.

He said sharing knowledge and deliberation over national issues were the best tools to forge national integrity and unity.

“The 21st century is proclaimed by literary circles as the ‘Century of Asia’ and to face modern challenges we must coordinate for quantitative expansion and qualitative improvement in the education sector with a well-organized library network at all levels,” he added.

He said to keep pace with the fast changes it was imperative that each institution be equipped with the latest information technology tools. Under the education policy, the government was committed to providing internet connections with computers to each school library for easy access to electronic libraries, he added.

The minister expressed satisfaction that there were about 28,000 public libraries in the country where 6,000 female librarians were serving and asked more women to adopt this profession.

President Pakistan Library Association (PLA) Saain Mohammad Malik, General Secretary PLA Attaullah and Director General Department of Libraries Chaudhry Mohammad Nazir also spoke on the occasion.—APP