Sindh govt. should transform its 40 libraries into Cultural Centers

By Q. Isa Daudpota

The Government of Sindh’s Ministry of Culture and its Department of Libraries are guardians of more than 40 libraries in the province. It would be best to transform them into cultural centers that include their current printed matter. Setting up Film Clubs in each of them would be an easy, economical first step.

The website suggests the top 100 movies which can be freely downloaded by a few libraries that have fast Internet connections. These can then be easily shared with libraries elsewhere.

Top movies in different languages with English subtitles should also be collected. Include art films from Pakistan and India too.

Libraries shouldn’t waste money buying expensive projectors/media-projectors as movies can be watched on TV screens or even individual cell phones with the audience in the same room.

The idea is not mere entertainment. These clubs must help develop critical skills in movie analysis among viewers through discussion with an expert in the room.  This can be supplemented through analysis of the films on YouTube and discussing reviews in international newspapers and magazines on the Net. All film shows must be led by a film critic – each librarian will need to find a few such persons in each town.

This requires no expense other than a small honorarium for the critic supervising the session.

The Government of Sindh can start this project in a handful of bigger libraries and then quickly expand to others.

Read: Greening of Sindh University

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The author, hailing from Sindh, is an Islamabad resident. Email: daudpota@gmail.com Tel: 0300 9104088

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