Four of the eight libraries that Dhaka South City Corporation runs for its 4.3 million residents languish in neglect, with inadequate facilities and few books.
The other four 鈥� Northbrook Hall Library on Farashganj Road, Tajuddin Memorial Library on Tipu Sultan Road, Haji Khalil Sardar Library at Hazaribagh Park and Nawabganj Park Library 鈥� have remained closed for up to five years for renovation.
Of the four still open, three 鈥� Mufti Maulana Din Mohammad Islami Library at Lalbagh, Rokanpur Library at Lakshmibazar and Zahir Raihan Cultural Centre Library at Sutrapur 鈥� run with poor facilities and little activity. They mostly remain deserted, with only two or three readers visiting each month.
The fourth, Martyred Mir Mahfuzur Rahman Mugdho Memorial Library, set up this February in the Azimpur Nagar Pathagar that was inaugurated in 2022 but never opened to the public, is alleged to have been run by Students Against Discrimination, which led the July 2024 uprising.
Librarians said that they rarely receive books from the city authorities, who have no budget for repairs or reading promotion. Librarians seldom attend regularly, with cleaners and caretakers usually opening and closing the libraries. Although scheduled to remain open for six hours from 2:00pm, they hardly follow the timetable.
The Din Mohammad Library, which holds about 1,760 books including those moved from the Khalil Sardar and Nawabganj Park libraries after their closure, offers little of a reading environment.
Set up in 2008, it is now mostly used as a store for Trading Corporation of Bangladesh products. The chairs are in disrepair, the tables are thick with dust and the toilet has no running water. The library also lacks drinking water and has been without power for several months.
Cleaner Mafiz Uddin, who has worked there since its establishment, said that the library remains open from 9:00am to 6:00pm but rarely sees visitors. 鈥楲ocal leaders use the library as a store for TCB products.鈥�
Abul Hossain, a resident there for 55 years, said not a single person had visited in six months. 鈥楾here is no reading environment. It has fallen into complete negligence.鈥�
Librarian Abu Hena Mohammad Manjurul Ahsan said the library鈥檚 electricity and water come from Dhaka Mahanagar Shishu Hospital as the building is an annexe to the hospital. 鈥楾echnical issues keep it without power. The water tank is damaged, which is why there is no water in the toilet,鈥� he said, claiming that he visits regularly.
The Rokanpur Library has about 100 books in a small room containing one bookshelf, two tables and four chairs.
Ashraf Uddin Kabir, also librarian of the Zahir Raihan Cultural Centre Library and the Tajuddin Memorial Library, said that the Zahir Raihan Library has 665 books, mostly privately donated.
鈥楽ince it opened in 2010, the city authorities have provided about 200 books,鈥� he said, adding that about 3,900 books from the Tajuddin Library are also stored there.
Md Zahidul, librarian of the Northbrook Hall Library set up in 1882, said that it had moved to the Farashganj Diabetic Association building after the abandonment of the original site in 2017. The library closed again after the Farashganj building had been demolished for renovation in 2023. About 3,600 books, including rare British-era titles, are now kept in sacks at the Rokanpur Library.
鈥楶eople used to come to read newspapers, but the number of readers declined after the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020. The libraries also no longer receive newspapers regularly.鈥�
Abu Hena, who also serves as librarian of the Mir Mugdho, Khalil Sardar and Nawabganj Park libraries, said that although the Mir Mugdho library is a city-run facility, members of Students Against Discrimination have occupied and now manage it.
A visit showed that all the readers there were preparing for public service examinations. Saiful Islam, preparing for the judicial service examination, said that readers pay a Tk 1,000 non-refundable membership fee and a Tk 300 monthly fee.
Abu Hena said that the students who run the library collect the fees. 鈥業 do not have any authority over the library. I have informed the city corporation of the matter.鈥�
Mohammad Mobasswer Hasan, chief social welfare and slum development officer of the south city authorities, acknowledged the shortage of books and the absence of a dedicated budget.
He said that the corporation is in discussion with an organisation about managing the Mir Mugdho Library, which now has 110 members. He, however, said that he was unaware of when the libraries that were closed would reopen.
The Dhaka North City Corporation has recently set up the Pallikabi Jasim Uddin Library at Baridhara Park, run by the Baridhara Society, and the Kabi Al Mahmud Library at Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Park, run by the Gulshan Youth Club.