National Library Week annually celebrated the crucial role played by libraries, librarians, and library workers in transforming lives and strengthening our communities. The celebration of Library Week served as a catalyst to promote reading habits among students. The Central Library of Aarupadai Veedu Medical College and Hospital marked the National Library Week with a National Workshop on “LIBRARY AUTOMATION: LECTURE CUM TRAINING ON KOHA & RFID” on November 17th and 18th, 2023, in the Microbiology demo room at AVMC&H. A total of 53 Library and Information Science professionals from across India participated in the National workshop, with the majority hailing from Puducherry and Tamil Nadu.
The inaugural program commenced with the invocation of Thamizhthai Vazhthu, followed by the lightening of the Kuthu Vilakku by the dignitaries: Dr. Rakesh Sehgal, Dean; Dr. P.F. Kotur, Provost; Dr. Vishu Bhatt, Advisor Medical Research and Publications; Dr. Latha, VP (Academics) and Library committee co-chairperson; and Mr. Kumaran, Chief Librarian, along with the workshop participants.
The initial session commenced as Mr. Gnana Prakash, Regional Executive of Rapid Radio Solutions, delivered a lecture on “Introduction to RFID – Hardware, Software, and Integration.” Following that, Dr. R. Kiran, Chief Librarian at Raja Rajeswari Group of Institutions, Bangalore, and Mr. R. Sreedhar, Chief Librarian at AVIT, Chennai, shared their insights in a lecture on “RFID Implementation – case studies.”
On the second day of the workshops, Dr. Leeladharan continued the session by explaining the creation of item types, patron categories, budget and fund allocation to the libraries, acquisition of books, Z39 configuration, importing MARC records, editing MARC records, periodicals subscription, receipt of periodicals, and report generation in KOHA.
The concluding session of the National Workshop concluded with the distribution of certificates to the participants. Dr. Sathish Kora Kuruvilla, Medical Superintendent at AVMC&H, delivered the valedictory address to the participants and distributed certificates to both the participants and the members of the organizing committee.


