Punjab Public Library, Lahore, Pakistan,
was established by order No. 2798 dated 8 November 1884 of the lieutenant
governor of the Punjab, in the Home General Department. It
has been registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860.The library began operations
in the Baradari Wazir Khan, an imperial building built by Nawab Wazir Khan, the
governor ofLahore,
during Emperor
Shahjahan’s reign with
the assistance of the government of the Punjab. Its purpose is to be a public
library and reading room.Other
library blocks were built in 1939, and a block housing the auditorium and Bait-ul-Quran section was
constructed in 1968 and inaugurated by General Mohammad Musa, then governor of West Pakistan.The Punjab
Public Library, Lahore, lies in the heart of the city of Lahore at Library Road
near the Lahore museum, off Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam. It is surrounded by
educational institutions and the Punjab University (Old Campus). The commercial centre of Anarkali,
the main offices of the Metropolitan Corporation Lahore (Town Hall) and the
provincial government offices, i.e., the Civil Secretariat, are a short
distance from this building.The library holds a collection of books in all
fields of knowledge in English, Urdu, Persian, Arabic and Punjabi.
Its total collection is about 0.3 million volumes and includes books, bound
volumes of back numbers of magazines/ newspapers,
reports, the old gazettes of Punjab, Pakistan and undivided India, and more
than 1500 manuscripts. The library receives 170 magazines, 24 journals by
subscription and the rest as free copies. 12 dailies are received in the
library.
Aims and objectives
·
To provide a public
library for the use of all classes of people in the province which contain
official publications as well as general literature, both
Oriental and Occidental.
·
To provide a reading
room open to the public, free of charge.
·
To contribute to the
intellectual advancement of the country.
·
To make accessible at
one place information that may be required for historical research,
or for any other enquiry that depends upon records rather than upon experience.
Library
administration
The Punjab
Public Library, Lahore , is under the
administrative control of the Education Department, Government of the Punjab, Lahore . The Punjab
government, vide notification No.SO(A-IV)2-24/2009 dated 25.02.2010, has
constituted the following board of governors of the Government Punjab Public
Library, Lahore, under the Punjab Government Educational and Training
Institutions Ordinance, 1860 (West Pakistan Ordinance No.XI of 1960):-
Sections
The library has the following sections:
Acquisition section
Used for
acquiring books for the library from booksellers.
The selection of books is made by a book purchase committee which also includes
subject specialists. Readers’ suggestions are given consideration when
purchasing books for the library. A book selection policy is followed for the
purchase of books, and government procedures are followed for payment of the
bills. Books are accessioned here, payments are made and the accessioned
material is then sent to the technical section for processing. Suggestion books
to be used for suggesting books for the library or making other proposals are
provided.
Technical section
Books and other material received from the acquisition section are
provided with labels and stamps and are classified and catalogued. D.D.C. 20th
Edition is used for subject analysis while A.A.C.R-2 is followed for
cataloguing. Cards are typewritten. Reference material is kept in the reference section and
all other books are sent to the library shelves for circulation.
Circulation section
On the first
floor of the English section there is an English counter at which books for home study are issued and received back. Oriental language books are issued at the counter in the
Oriental section. Approximately 250 books are issued or received back at these
counters every day.
Reference
section
The
Reference Section is frequented by students, research scholars and the public
throughout the library working hours. It contains reference works such as encyclopaedias, dictionaries, yearbooks,
directories, almanacs, atlases, gazetteers,
etc. along with reference works in subject fields. The official gazettes of
Punjab and Pakistan kept in
this section are important sources of information for many people of the city
and rural areas of various districts of Punjab .
Bound files of newspapers are available.
The section
serves its readers by providing census reports, patents and designs, and back numbers of
English magazines. This section is useful for students preparing for such
competitive examinations as CSS and PCS. The section is staffed by library
professionals and information specialists.
The Bait-ul-Quran
This section of the library was established in 1968 by Mr. Mukhtar Masood, then
commissioner of the Lahore Division, and inaugurated by then governor of West Pakistan , General Muhammad Musa. It contains
manuscripts of the Holy Quran, some dating back to
500 years. The section houses copies of handwritten and printed Holy Qurans
collected from all over Pakistan, e.g., the photocopies of the Quran remained
under recitation of Usman Ghani, Amam Jaffer Sadiq, Molana Rom,Tipu Sultan and a hand written Quran by Aurangzeb Alamgir,
Emperor of India. Translations and commentaries of the Holy Quran in different
languages and other Quranic Literature are all placed in this section for the
use of research scholars.
Children's section
A separate
children's section was established in March 1982. Material comprises
illustrated books, children encyclopaedias and dictionaries, science and adventure books, illustrated fiction,
biographies, historical and Islamic books, books on Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Muhammad
Iqbal, as well as on Pakistan, both in English and Urdu languages.
it contains about 6,000 volumes.
Computer section and e-library
The computer
section of the library was established in 1993 and became functional in 1996. A
catalogue of the books in the library has been computerized and readers have
been provided browsing facility on computers.
Internet service is provided to the public at a
nominal charge of Rs. 10/- per hour. CD writing and printing is available in
the section.
Collections
Collections which have been donated are as
follows:
Riffat
Sultana Memorial Collection
This is the
largest collection donated to this library by any individual. Dr. Mumtaz
Hassan, a scholar and governor, State Bank of Pakistan, has donated about 9,000
volumes to the library in the memory of his daughter, Riffat Sultana. The
collection has been placed in a section known as the
Riffat Sultana Memorial Collection. It has been functioning in the library
since 1963.
Prof. Abdul Qadir Collection
Mulana Muhammad Ali Qasuri Collection
Abdul Hamid Collection
Dr. Azhar Ali Collection
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