The Pakistan Library Association (PLA) is a representative national body of

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

s in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. It was formed in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

in March 1957. It is responsible for looking after the interests of the professional librarians who work for the development and improvement of libraries both in formal and informal sectors of education and research. It also acts as a liaison between Pakistani organizations with similar aims and objectives as international library organizations and promotes the image of librarians in society. Prior to the formation of PLA there was the Pakistan Bibliographical Working Group (PBWG) which promoted library activities. According to Dr. Anis Khurshid, an ad hoc committee meeting of the PBWG on 6 July 1954 chaired by H. A. Qazi formed a National Association for Librarians. The committee members included Syed Vilayat Hussain, Khawaja Noor Elahi, Fazal-e-Elahi and Akhtar H. Siddiqui. The PLA is a registered body under the Societies Act XXI of 1960. Its membership is open to all library professionals of the country. The association has organized 18 conferences so far. In addition to regular meetings, the PLA arranges library seminars, workshops, discussions, book exhibitions, etc. It also has published a newsletter and a quarterly journal entitled ''PLA Journal''. The association has a headquarters and five branches in four provincial capitals and the Federal Capital,

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

. The headquarters of the PLA rotates between Karachi,

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

, Islamabad,

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

and

Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...

every two years. Its present council is in Quetta, Baluchistan with Prof. Abdul Baqi Baloch as its president.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Educational organisations based in Pakistan Library associations Libraries in Pakistan