The number of books in the library has drastically reduced over the last couple of years due to a lack of interest by those responsible and so has the number of readers.
Established in 1988, the library took off with a collection of around 25,000 books of science, history, commerce, medicine, languages and literature. After some time, an audio/visual facility and reading section for children was also introduced.
It attracted a large number of people from all walks of life and at one time the number of members touched 10,000 (according to official record) among whom were authors and intellectuals who would sit in the reference section for hours together.
Though the library is ideally located (just a few yards from the GT Road) and accessible to college and university students and teachers, it has now lost its treasure — books and readers — for neither the Punjab Library Foundation nor provincial and city administrations seem interested in maintaining it.
It is evident from the fact that the library has today lost many of rare books it once had, not to speak of provision of any new book in its 19-year history.
People say many new editions of books on science and technology have come up in the market whereas the library has not even previous editions of these books. The number of visitors has come down a great deal owing to shortage of books and facilities.
A reader, Shahbaz Ahmad, told Dawn during a survey that he wanted to read ‘In the line of fire’ by President Gen Pervez Musharraf but it was not available in the library. Other members said the library’s video facility had been lying out of order and they could not view films at the audio-visual section.
“How can a person spend time here in peak summer when the air-conditioner is not working properly?” they asked.
They claimed that they didn’t even get potable water and other most basic facilities.
Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi had announced a grant of Rs20 million for the library during his visit to Gujranwala a few months ago, but it is yet to be released.
Chief librarian Malik Muhammad Aslam said there was a plan to revamp the library and equip it with books and latest facilities after receiving grant.
Librarian Malik Asghar Azeemi said the Punjab Library Foundation had provided 500 books during the current year and more books were expected shortly.