Daily Times

Recently, a famous publisher closed one of their decades-old flagship bookstores in Lahore. During the last few years, this is not the first such incident. People with reading habit tend to think critically, become innovative, and act as responsible citizens. In Pakistan, vanishing bookshops and deserted libraries raise serious concern for the society. In Tokyo, there are 1,675 bookshops. In Lahore, the number of bookstores that don’t only sell textbooks does not exceed a dozen.

According to the World Cities Culture Report 2015, with 1,100 public libraries, Paris has the highest number of public libraries in any city across the globe. Edinburgh, as mall city with less than half a million population, has 298 public libraries. But in Lahore, known as the cultural capital of Pakistan, there are only six public libraries.

After the demise of local cinema, the extinction of once-vibrant theatre and traditional festivals, now the closure of bookshops and deserted state of libraries are tell-tale signals of cultural decadence. Just as the number of playgrounds gives an indication of the state of bodily health of a people, similarly the number of bookshops and libraries shows the condition of intellectual and cognitive health of a society. The incidence of crime and disregard for civic responsibility are a barometer of the social health of the society.

With close ties between reading habit and virtues like creativity, innovation and social responsibility, in the absence of the former the rampant moral degeneration of society and poor performance in research and development are natural outcomes. Global Innovation Index 2016 has reported Pakistan at 119th position among 128 surveyed nations. Books transfer collective human wisdom and knowledge to posterity. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey or Plutarch’s Lives give lessons which hold relevance for all the ages. When a society stops reading then it learns only through bitter experiences. We seem to have opted the bitter path.

Barring a few large public libraries, the rest are under administrative control of municipal bodies. The plight of municipal public libraries is terrible. There are neither qualified librarians nor budgetary allocations to buy books or maintain the infrastructure. Apart from a few newspaper readers, hardly anyone visits these libraries in search of books. Everywhere in the developed world libraries provide people with a social space for learning, entertainment and social interaction. In the absence of such ‘social spaces’, an increase in intolerant, anti-social and extremist behaviour in society is a plausible result.

There are many factors which have contributed to this sorry state of affairs. Some people tend to blame the internet, social media, professional engagements or high prices of books for their distance from books. But, despite widespread use of internet and busy post-industrial socio-economic life, book sales in the developed societies have not declined. Rather, technology has further promoted reading culture by providing digital pocket-size libraries like Kindle and e-books.

Reading is a cultural phenomenon. Civil society, media, and intelligentsia can play a vital role in the promotion of book reading. In the remote Hunza valley of Gilgit-Baltistan, civil society has been instrumental in promoting the reading culture. Village-based community organisations have established community libraries in almost each village. The educational attainment and level of social responsibility among the residents of those far-flung villages in the mountains of the Karakoram are exemplary for the rest of Pakistan. The educated and socially conscious people can replicate such initiatives elsewhere.

Apart from civil society, the provincial tier of government can also do many things. Interestingly in the case of supporting and maintaining public sector libraries, Gilgit-Baltistan has fared quite well. Municipal Library of Gilgit is situated in the premises famous for once serving as the residence of John Biddulph. He was posted at Gilgit as a political officer in 1877 to keep a close watch on the famous theatre of the Great Game. The library, often called the Biddulph House Library rightfully, boasts an excellent collection of books. For any visitor to the Biddulph House Library, it can be a pleasant surprise to see books like Will Durant’s eleven volumes of The Story of Civilization or the rare unabridged Princeton edition of the three volumes of the Muqadimmah of Ibn-e-Khaldun.

Libraries can be developed as integrated facilities serving as community centres. Once people come near books, they will ultimately start reading. An important contribution which governments can make is to allow duty-free import of foreign books and offer some tax incentives for booksellers. Provincial education departments can incorporate annual reading competitions in their official event calendars. Provincial governments can support and assist local governments in improving their library management capacity.

The recent rise of literary festivals on a regular basis is a silver lining. Federal and provincial governments should patronise these festivals. These events can help in revival of book culture. For a nation whose entire generation has grown up amidst terror attacks and suicide blasts, such literature festivals can provide great opportunity to draw the attention of public towards books.

The writer works for the public sector and is a development policy analyst