THE ROLE OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL TOURISM IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

Pakistan lacks the use of cultural and educational tourism in its public libraries. Although these institutions were once primarily centered on reading and research, there are new tendencies to show their prospect as heritage sites, community space, and online knowledge portals. In this paper, the Library Tourism Attraction Index System (LTAS) is used to assess the tourism potential of significant public libraries in Pakistan. Those attractions include Humanistic, Service, Social, and Digital attractions. According to literature, governmental reports, media coverage and case studies, (Quaid-e-Azam Library, Khaliq Dina Hall, Bahawalpur Central Library, Khushal Khan Khattak Memorial Library and others), it is proved that libraries of historical architecture, rare collections, genealogical service and active cultural programs can be used to attract both local and international tourists. Some of these challenges are reduced number of visitors, limited funding, and lack of access to digital. Some of the recommendations involved the establishment of Bibliotourism Development Units (BDUs), digitization of collections, encouraging community participation, and involvement of libraries in provincial tourism plans. This paper sets out to investigate the cultural and educational tourism opportunity of the Pakistani public libraries. In particular, it aims at assessing the main libraries in terms of the Library Tourism Attraction Index System (LTAS), determining structural and operational limitations which could impede tourism involvement, and delivering evidence-based sustainable development recommendations. In this study, the researcher aims to develop the strategies of transforming the public libraries in Pakistan into both historical and educational centers thus helping to develop bibliotourism in this country.