The air is dry and hot. It’s the sub-tropic climate of Patna, a district of Bihar, India, one of the oldest inhabited cities in the history of human civilization.

Farrukh Hasan, public services librarian at Avila University, is here and about to make an historic journey. She has made contact with one of two people that hold a key to the internationally renowned Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library. After donning specially made gloves in a climate-controlled, highly secured case, Hasan embarks on an experience few have had. She is able to read rare manuscripts, more than 1,100 years old, and get a glimpse into civilizations long forgotten.

This expedition didn’t require Hasan to escape impending booby traps or to wear a leather hat. Rather, it required a desire for knowledge and a lifelong passion to preserve the past so that the future may share in the privileges of today.

Hasan began her quest as a young girl. She attended school at St. Joseph’s Convent in Bihar, India. With the encouragement of her father, she received her bachelor of arts in English literature from Patna University in India. After college, she traveled to the U.S. with her husband to Purdue University, where she received her master of arts in English literature. Hasan taught English and eventually received her master of language arts from the University of Missouri-Columbia. In 1998, she joined the staff of the Hooley-Bundschu Library at Avila.

Hasan’s quest for the preservation of history has evolved with her activism in the community. She works for the protection of the environment by teaching workshops and courses on global warming and practical ways to help in sustainability efforts.

In addition to speaking about the environment, she also speaks and gives lectures regarding the role of women in Islam. She serves on the program board for the American Friends Service Committee and is a member of the Avila Environmental Action Committee.

No matter the cause, all of Hasan’s endeavors are rooted in knowledge. She believes in the power of knowledge to create understanding and harmony, and that books are key to our survival.


Hasan’s Top Books to Read in a Lifetime

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf (1929)

An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warning by Al Gore (2007)

Confessions of Economic Hit Man by John Perkins (2005)

Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit by Al Gore (2006)

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. (2005)

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (1902)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813)

A People’s History of the United States: 1492 -
Present by Howard Zinn (1995)

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (1959)