Daily Times

The Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) on Thursday launched its most modern digital library named as “Readers Lounge” to enable easy knowledge access to researchers, scholars and students at a single click online.

A launching ceremony was organised here at the Jinnah Hall of IPRI which is a dedicated library of the Institute where senior Defence Analyst Professor Dr Rifaat Hussain was the chief guest on occasion.

In his welcome remarks, President IPRI Ambassador Dr Raza Muhammad said the skills of knowledge learning namely reading and writing have been bestowed upon mankind by the Almighty. Emphasising the need of modern learning skills, he said the study of religious knowledge and teachings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) indicated the emphasis laid on education and learning.

Raza said the initiative of the digital library has been taken to bring the heaps of books at a single platform accessible from anywhere in the world.

“Dr Hussain Nadim has been the key person to make this effort to digitize the books come true. We have connected our library with the National Archives of Pakistan which is a knowledge hub but was an inaccessible platform to everyone,” he said.

The President IPRI underlined that a great effort has been done to provide library access to the students of far-flung areas, adding, “initially the library will be free for six months to everyone.”

Executive Director Communications and Reforms IPRI Dr Hussain Nadim said the endeavour was initiated back in February 2021 and took a year to achieve its successful execution.

Nadim added that the IPRI took digital transformation steps in September 2021 whereas the institution existed since 1999 but the new thing was it’s new look and accessibility to the masses.

“IPRI is a larger think tank on all social media platforms across Asia. It has 4,000 subscribers on WhatsApp whereas it has presence on all major social media platforms expect TikTok. It has 3.5 million views on social media mostly from India, US and Middle East,” he said.

The team at IPRI had developed a digital infrastructure which would give propitious results in the future. “The research material is useless until it’s made comprehensible and easily consumable. Our info-graphics have gone famous mostly made on Afghanistan which are equally beneficial for CSS aspirants to prepare for competitive exams,” he highlighted.

Through this example, he said IPRI tried to show that there were four things to transform any public institution that were intention to reform, ability for the vision to be big, freedom to act, and continuity in the process.