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LAHORE: Public Libraries General Director Dr Zaheer Ahmed Babar on Friday stressed the need for encouraging more and more students and youth to take advantage of the rich and unmatched knowledge available at libraries.
He expressed these views while speaking at the 16th session of City Dialogue organised by the Urban Unit in Quaid-i-Azam Library. He lamented the dying culture of book reading and attending libraries in Pakistan as the ratio of people coming to libraries was declining steeply. He was of the view that the government and public both need to be aware of the importance of libraries in grooming and educating the readers while inculcating the urge to know among them.
The City Dialogue tends to highlight various issues faced by the urban centres of Pakistan particularly Lahore with an emphasis on finding solutions with the help and suggestions people attending these weekly dialogues.
'There is no official directorate of public libraries in Pakistan'
Earlier in 15th City Dialogue, renowned investigative journalist Mohsin Bhatti gave a presentation on food adulteration, food safety and health issues in the city. His presentation focused many food brands’ surprise visits where food authority teams discovered huge adulteration of food items in preparation and packaging.
The question and answer session took extra time as participants engaged in a healthy discussion with the speaker seeking replies to their queries and suggesting remedial measures too. Dr Babar appreciated the Urban Unit for organising successful sessions in the library.
The Quaid-i-Azam Library has some 125,000 volumes, both in English and Urdu languages. Nearly 2,000 books are added to the library annually. It has more than 17,000 people enrolled as its members and nearly 19,000 people visit the library annually.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 12th, 2018.
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