After a hiatus of 14 long years, British Council-Pakistan is reopening its libraries in Lahore and Karachi. The Lahore library shall be opened to public on August 30, so the potential members can start booking in advance.

To become members, you need to visit library.britishcouncil.pk, click "Join", book a tour, and choose a date and time. Walk-ins are not allowed.

As a child, I loved going to the library after school with my siblings when it was housed in the building which is now a bank opposite the YMCA, The Mall. Back then, in 1976, the ground floor of the building had the famous Grindlay’s Bank whereas the library was situated on the first floor. Somewhere in the early ‘80s, the library was moved to Mozang.

I remember the fee was Rs4 for the junior section -- to be paid once in a year. Every time we went there, each of us would get issued four books, the maximum one could take home at a time. My brother fondly remembers how all the books I brought the first time over were returned unread despite the passage of a month because these were "too difficult for me to digest."

The first time I entered the library I found people consciously observing silence. For me this was a place like, maybe, a church where you couldn’t be loud.

We would bring home fiction books mostly and then the five of us siblings would read them one after the other. There are so many characters from these novels that are still part of our lives.

All of us particularly enjoyed reading the Adrian Mole series by Sue Townsend and Somerset Maugham’s novels. And to think that these books came to us almost for free.

The British Council Library was a great place for people who loved to read. Then, suddenly, one sad day, the library was closed for security reasons. It was in the wake of 9/11.

Who can forget the newspapers’ corner in the library that offered many international journals. At that time, there was no internet. I remember getting videos of plays that were part of my English Literature course from the library. In 1984, Society of Pakistan English Language Teachers (SPELT) was launched. The following year, the British Council screened the film adaptation of Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’. The viewers, I still remember, were mostly teachers of English language and literature.

The movies are part of the plan, and there will be various other activities and events also. But for now, the one interesting aspect to look forward to is a revamped version of the library. "The aim is to rebuild and revolutionise the library and provide a 21^st-century experience to the people," a British Council representative tells TNS. "Physical spaces have been redesigned, and a digital library resource developed that will bring the very best of UK and Pakistani content to consumers. With seamless integration between the physical and the virtual, the British Council libraries across the country shall create a modern-day cultural relations space."

According to the Council rep, "The wealth of resources and state-of-the-art design and technologies installed at the library shall create precedence."

All told, the new-age library shall be a departure from conventional facilities, and offer ebooks, DVDs and access to exciting events details. As such, the library shall move from being "a book place" to a "convening place."

The ‘digital’ library members shall have access to thousands of e-books, e-journals, and all sorts of popular magazines from The Economist to Vogue. UK research and academic texts shall also be made available.

Individual membership is for Rs6,000, family membership for Rs15,000 (2 adults, 4 children ages 11-17), and digital membership for Rs3,500.

The British Council is also working on providing parking facilities.