nsconced between the Lahore Museum and Anarkali Bazaar, the Punjab Public Library is the oldest facility of the kind in the province. The building’s landmark, Baradari Wazir Khan, was functional during Emperor Shahjahan’s reign. The other buildings took shape around 1884 under the then lieutenant governor of the Punjab. With the passage of time, other features were added to the library, such as gardens for leisure reading; an auditorium for seminars; a Bait-ul Quran section for religious learning; and a computer room for free access to the internet.

Recently, the Library has extended its service hours and is being renovated.

The library entrance is guarded by an old metal gate, reminiscent of an official government building. Upon arrival, the faded façade of Baradari Wazir Khan greets you, a raised pavilion in pink and red stone. At the gate, the security guard will ask you to manually register yourself in a thick, loaded register with columns for name, date of birth and the CNIC. In the guardhouse, worn bags line all the shelving on one wall, spilling over the edge and packed on the floor as well.

We were asked if we had a bag, and told that this was necessary to prevent theft. A rickety fan rotated. The actual libraries in this sprawling compound are hard to find, as if in a maze, so we turned many lefts and rights, navigating across the main building until we found the library.

The Urdu library is the most functional library here. Situated in a large room, a quaint librarian’s desk resides to the right. There is strict gender segregation; around 70 percent of the room is occupied by men. On the other side there are three tables with the sign “Reserved for Female.” At the time of our visit, two women were poring over books, hunched in their chairs. In contrast, the entire male section was filled.

The books range from volumes on Ghalib to art history to law and journalism.

The librarian is a young man, open to answering questions. He’s been visiting here since he was a child, but he has been a librarian here for only a year. He said the gender division in the library was recent — it wasn’t there in his childhood. When asked why and when this had happened, he said around four or five years ago, due to “issues” he didn’t remember exactly.

The library is air-conditioned and fairly clean and organised. The timings, previously 8am to 8pm, have been extended to 1am — for students. The librarian said most students visited from a hostel nearby or came from Government College University and Punjab University, to study for the CSS examinations.

The recent timing extension has been cemented because of requests from CSS aspirants. Among the books littered on the many tables, many sport the CSS title. Even though the library gets funds only once or twice a year, it tries to purchase specific books if one turns in a request.

Even though the library only funds only once or twice a year, it does purchase specific books if one turns in a request.

he English libraries are a few twists and turns away. The English section is grand, spread over four floors including the basement. In the middle of the library, a central empty space, lined with balcony-esque railing, allows one to look at the upper floors or gaze below at bookshelves.

I entered the ground floor to find the basement in darkness, cobwebs glaring up from between stacks of books. At first glance, this library looked much less maintained than the Urdu library: the librarian’s desk was empty, with a few things strewn haphazardly. Only a few lights illuminated the entire library, and there was a line of books on the floor. At the back, volumes of Shakespeare, Kant and Blake remained untouched.

Windows opened up to show a view of the entire property. Natural light poured in from equidistant points. The uppermost floor was completely abandoned, and heavy tomes with olden binding were covered in dust: the closest I’ve come to a haunted dark academia setting. These books also reminded me of the ‘vintage selections’ sold at outrageous prices at one of the stalls at the Expo Centre book fair early this year.

Currently, the Punjab Public Library is undergoing renovation. The Urdu library has already been renovated; the Baradari is being redone.

Baradari, with twelve openings for air flow, is the oldest part of the Library. Plastic chairs are placed haphazardly on and around the pavilion. Some men were reading newspapers, some were having chai. Some sat and scrolled their phones.

Inside the Baradari, there was scaffolding near the dome. Restoration work was under way. The walls were being repainted, retaining a glimmer of their past splendour. Scattered across this monument were wooden newspaper stands, some empty, some with copies of the past week’s daily Jang. Opposite to it lay a garden with tables and chairs set in the greenery.

The Punjab Public Library has a timeless sort of beauty, when you gaze at the pavilion with its seated readers, bathed in yellow.

The writer is an interdisciplinary student of literature and sciences at Lahore College of Arts & Sciences. She can be reached at fajr.rauf5@gmail com