Srinagar: A series of events were organized by the Department of Libraries & Research on Wednesday across Kashmir division to commemorate the World Book & Copyright Day-2025.
As part of the World Book & Copyright Day events, three closed libraries were also made functional on Wednesday on the initiative of the Principal Secretary Department of Culture. These include Block Libraries of Khanyar (Srinagar) & Khansahab (Budgam) and Border Block Library Villgam (Kupwara).
World Book and Copyright Day is celebrated on April 23 every year to promote the love for reading and writing; power of publishing, making reading accessible for all and the importance of protecting intellectual property through copyright laws. The Day also signifies the potential of books and literature in shaping minds, uniting people, and inspiring social transformation.
Proclaimed by UNESCO in 1995, the day commemorates the passing away of literary legends including William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes, and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, all of whom passed away on this day.
This year’s theme for World Book and Copyright Day is – “Role of literature in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”, which highlights literature’s pivotal role in driving progress towards the SDGs. It emphasises how literature can inspire action and awareness across key global issues such as poverty, hunger, inequality, and more.
To mark the day, the Wednesday’s main event was organized at SPS Central Library complex with an Exhibition of Special Literary Collections including Manuscripts, Rare Books and Miniature Paintings.
The main attractions of the exhibition, jointly organized by SPS Library Srinagar & the Oriental Research Library (ORL) Srinagar, were the historic manuscripts like Qarabai-Din, Sadh PandLuqman and Shahnama Firdous. Some of the rare books including Mahabharata & Ramayana, Rajtarangni by Kalhanna,Tareekh-e-Rasheedi, Gazetteer of India and Kashur – a history of Kashmir were also displayed at the exhibition.
Speaking on the occasion, Assistant Director, ORL Srinagar, Mrs Ishrat Majeed said the Oriental Research Library, Srinagar established in 1904, is a repository of around 6000 rare manuscripts in 17 languages encompassing varied fields. The library also has around 500 rare books and miniature paintings.
Ishrat said the manuscript collection of ORL is a treasure-trove of religious, philosophical, historical, literary and scientific writings rich in classical languages like Persian, Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, Turki, Brij Bhasha and Arabic. These languages have left deep impression on Kashmiri language by conditioning its growth in terms of forms and scope, she said and added that the Sanskrit, language of court and culture in 9th and beginning of 10th century in Kashmir contributes number of religious, aesthetic and poetic articulations and are preserved in ORL.
Ishrat said such exhibitions make our young generation aware about, the culture, traditions, heritage and history of Jammu and Kashmir.
A large number of people from different walks of life visited the exhibition.
Book exhibitions and other activities including literary tours of libraries to discover the magic of books and re-inculcate reading habits among the youth were organised in District and Tehsil Libraries across Kashmir as part of World Book & Copyright Day events.
The Department of Libraries, has for the past few years, laid special emphasis on selection of reference books for students preparing for IAS/KAS/NEET/JEE and other competitive examinations to make productive use of the resources earmarked for the purchase of books resulting in huge boost to the footfall of youth in public libraries.
