Revamped IVS library inaugurated

Karachi

The revamped library of the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS) was inaugurated on Tuesday morning.

Samina Raees Khan, executive director, IVS, said the library had now been equipped with 12,500 volumes in addition to 16 computers

and other latest information technology (IT) aids.

The library, she said, had been dedicated to the memory of Maryam Abdullah, grandmother of Arshad Abdullah and Shahid Abdullah, the two brothers who had financed the refurbishing of the library.

The Abdullah family, a family of architects and designers, have had deep connections with the Indus Valley School and have been its benefactors in many ways. Khan lauded the selfless devotion of the Abdullah family to the IVS.

Highlighting the indispensible need for information technology for dissemination of knowledge in the present-day world, she lauded the Abdullah family for having financed provision of the IT aids to the refurbished library.

Monis Abdullah, another scion of the Abdullah, performed the inauguration by removing a string of flowers at the library entrance. 

Abdullah, in his very brief inaugural speech, extolled his grandmother Maryam Abdulah and said that if one could add value to someone else’s life, well he had achieved a lot.

Shahnaz Ismail, professor emeritus, IVS, who had a very special relationship with Maryam Abdullah, also spoke and reminisced about the good old days. Talking about the utility of the library, she said, “There never can be a substitute for the written word.”

Samina Raees Khan told the gathering that a Maryam Abdullah Library Fund had been instituted. She also said that the library which now had 16 chairs, 16 computers and a whole lot of IT paraphernalia, was performing real public service as every week around 42,000-48,000 outsiders came and used the library facilities.