Street libraries fading away in Punjab
Rising influence of social media affects reading culture
LAHORE:
The trend of reading printed books has decreased significantly due to people s dependence on social media. The practice of reading books after borrowing them from libraries established in the streets has almost vanished.
New shopping malls are being built in the provincial capital, food streets are being opened and there is abundance of fast food outlets. Amid such developments, the interest among the students to read books has mostly become limited till their examinations.
In the initial years of the country s independence, private libraries were set up in the streets and buildings of the provincial metropolis became. Initially, any person could get his favorite book from the libraries for one anna per day, or a few paisa.