Library Bulletin

 

Library Boucher

 

Government Punjab Public Library - Introduction

Introduction

Govt. 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 center of Anarkali, the main offices of the Metropolitan Corporation Lahore (TownHall), and the provincial government offices, i.e., the Civil Secretariat, is 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 375,000 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, 33 journals are subscribed while the rest are complimentary copies. 12 dailies are received in the library.

History

Govt. Punjab Public Library, Lahore, Pakistan, was established by order No. 2798 dated 8 November 1884 of the lieutenant governor of 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 of Lahore, during Emperor Shahjahan’s reign with the assistance of the government of 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.