Principal Secretary Culture, Suresh Kumar Gupta, today visited SPS Library M A Road, here and took stock of facilities being extended to the visitors there especially the aspiring student fraternity. He was accompanied by Director, Archives, Archaeology & Museums, J&K and other officers of the department.
Director, Libraries and Research, Mohammad Rafi, briefed the Principal Secretary about the functioning of various libraries across the UT of J&K. Principal Secretary inspected the Reading Rooms, Senior Citizen Section and Children’s Section of SPS Library.
He also inspected the Manuscripts Section of Oriental Research Library and manuscripts preservation section. He impressed upon the concerned officers for ensuring proper preservation and upkeep of the historic manuscripts.
Director Libraries and Research and Chief Librarian, Oriental Research Library, briefed the Principal Secretary that the SPS library has a rich collection of over 90,000 books on various subjects including civil service examination, JEE and NEET besides having over 5000 manuscripts which have been digitised.
Principal Secretary also interacted with the borrowers and readers of SPS library who demanded latest books for various competitive examinations. He was briefed about the increasing footfall in the libraries due to availability of quality reading material and enhanced library working hours in central and district libraries.
He was also informed about the functioning of the department and various libraries across Kashmir Division. The issues related to provision of better services in all the libraries of J&K including Central, District, Tehsil, Block and Border Block level libraries were threadbare discussed.
Principal Secretary was also apprised of the issues being faced by the employees at various levels. He assured early redressal of all these issues and hoped that the employees will leave no stone unturned to provide effective library services across the UT of J&K.