Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Baseer Ahmad Khan, today visited SPS Library Srinagar to oversee its functioning and facilities available to the readers.
Advisor went round the premises including the Reading Room, Senior Citizens’ Section, General Philosophy and Languages section and the Children’s gallery. He asked the concerned authorities to ensure availability of books and other reference material required for students and avid readers.
During his visit to the Library, Advisor said that it is a huge asset and an incubation centre for scholars and researchers. This vital public utility has been raised after a very long struggle and every effort should be made for its proper functioning and maintenance, he asserted. He directed the concerned authorities that any pending engineering work should be completed at the earliest for proper functioning of the library.
The SPS Library, established in the year 1898, hosts a collection of books in English, Urdu, Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Kashmiri, Hindi and Punjabi languages. It also has a collection of 74 manuscripts in Persian, Sanskrit, Arabic and Urdu. SPS library is counted as one among the 8 oldest libraries across the country.
Advisor asked the authorities to find out ways and means to upgrade the facility on modern lines so that readers are attracted to the place besides encouraging reading habits among the locals.
During the visit, Advisor also called for reviving the culture of book reading and reading rooms to enrich the intellectual capital that would in turn educate the people about the culture, history, national integration and other aspects. He said that there is a need to keep a provision for creation of infrastructure, reading rooms and mini libraries at the district level so that readers are able to access books at the local level.
He asked the concerned authorities to send a detailed proposal for upgrading the facilities at the library and related necessary works that are to be completed for its proper functioning and maintenance.
On the occasion, Director Libraries and Research, Sheikh Arshad Ayub, gave a detailed presentation about functioning of the Library and the steps to be taken for its upgradation on modern lines. He also informed about the progress on various libraries across the districts of J&K.