Written by: Aiman Javed
Posted on: October 18, 2018 | 
| 中文
Mehreena Aziz Khan sits with the children, in the kid's corner
In the late afternoon sunlight, the white and beige Aiwan-e-Quaid building looks beautiful as I walk inside the Fatima Jinnah Park, Islamabad. Within lies the nearly empty Quaid Public Library (QPL), where the library clerk, Razzaq, guides me towards the basement. A few volunteers from ‘The Library Project’ are huddled around a small table and I recognize Mehreena Aziz Khan, the force behind the initiative. She greets me warmly and we immediately fall into conversation about the project.
I ask Mehreena how she ended up spearheading the initiative, and she discusses that she has witnessed the significance of libraries in community life abroad. She finds it pitiful that our public libraries, which have wonderful locations, basic infrastructure, funds and staff, remain underutilized. Since she had some free time on her hands, she took up the worthy cause and now she’s involved with it full-time. We talk about the online petition circulated at the start of the year to save the libraries from being auctioned off. To-date, a whopping 9730 citizens have signed this petition, and yet, there aren’t many visitors to be found at local libraries.
Mahnoor Malik, a volunteer for the project, and a student at the Islamic University, passionately tells me about a recent book reading session arranged for The City School Kindergartners in this basement. Though an economics student, Mahnoor wants to impact young lives, and as a storyteller at the event, she did just that. She paints a distressing picture of the prior condition of the basement; infested with rats and filled with trash. They cleaned it up and cleared it out, and were fortunately lent logistical support by Kuch Khaas for the book reading session. Eventually, they intend to turn the basement into a children’s section of the library, but the inadequate ventilation has made this impossible. Nevertheless, this citizen-led initiative seems undeterred by such setbacks.
Already, after just ten months of work, they have achieved a number of milestones including signing an MOU with the Department of Libraries, and getting the approval of the DG Libraries for their activities. The Quaid Public Library is their pilot project, but the department has also begun to take an interest. Recently, they renovated the F-11 library, including fixing the broken roof. “When we started visiting QPL, the seats here were torn, there were no lockers and the Wi-Fi would barely work. But ever since we’ve been involved, these issues have been fixed,” Mehreena tells me. They are making an effort on multiple levels; managing social media, recommending books to the Libraries Department, coming up with new layout plans for the spaces, and most importantly, arranging community events. The intention isn’t just to renovate the libraries, but also to encourage community synergy, so that citizens come together, communicate and learn together in these spaces.
In fact, the project itself has brought together a ‘motley crew’ of volunteers. Behram Khan, Mehreena’s husband, has over 15 years of senior IT systems management experience, and is keen to get cracking with the implementation of a modern library information system. Other project mainstays include Irfan Ahmed, who left a lucrative multinational corporate position in the US, to pursue writing and community work in Pakistan. I also meet Sabeena Abbasi, social media manager for the project, who explains how she realized the importance of libraries, while working with Teach for Pakistan, Karachi. “I managed a year-long programme meant to improve the English language skills of students,” she narrates. Due to a lack of resources, their library was a single carton full of books, but by the end of the year, the progress of the children was remarkable. Not only could they read, they also understood the meanings of the stories. Sabeena felt compelled to contribute when Mehreena kick-started ‘The Library Project’ in Islamabad. Other volunteers include talented architects, social activists, lawyers, thespians, graphic designers, accountants, programmers and academics committed to community activism.
I wander over to the library clerks, Razzaq and Waqar, who inform me that most of the library members are CSS students, and convey the impression that children don’t usually visit. Though that may have been the case, there is now a colourful kid’s corner in the library, set up by The Library Project. On my next visit to QPL, I meet the 11 year old Faris, who is visiting the library for a book exchange activity arranged by The Library Project. His cousins have also tagged along, and there is a gaggle of excited children, all tightly clutching books they’ve just exchanged. Faris is holding onto, ‘The Secret Garden,’ and we strike a conversation about our interest in the Harry Potter series. As his cousin jumps in, I realize how easily our age gap has been bridged, just because of similar reading habits.
Though the government has been largely cooperative, there are still several administrative hurdles The Library Project keeps coming across, and perhaps the biggest issue is the slow bureaucratic process. After their initial call to action, citizens were eager to contribute, but as the days passed by, interest level also dropped with volunteers feeling discouraged. The team expressed hope that the new government will speed up implementation. Mehreena remains fully motivated, and her enthusiasm is catching. As Mahnoor puts it, she partly wants to keep volunteering because of her leadership.
While struggling to improve the facilities of the library, they have simultaneously begun arranging events. Next Saturday, in collaboration with IDEAS/Bazeecha Trust, they will conduct a Dyslexia Awareness Day at QPL. Ultimately, with any events, their aim is to draw attention towards the library, encourage visitors, gather feedback, and push for real change. “We’re bursting with ideas, such as setting up a tuck shop outside this library! But we need people to show up,” Mehreena explains, “Ultimately, we want to breathe life into libraries by bringing the book lovers back!”
You may also like:
