CHENNAI: With the 49th Chennai Book Fair scheduled to commence on January 8, publishers have raised concerns over the delay by the Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (Bapasi) in modernising cataloguing systems to improve visitor experience. They said the absence of digital tools forces readers to move from stall to stall in search of specific titles, causing confusion and crowding at the venue.
Publishers pointed out that several international book fairs, including the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany, extensively use AI-based and digital tools to enhance visitor engagement. Despite repeated suggestions over the past few years to introduce similar features at the Chennai Book Fair, no concrete steps have been taken so far, they alleged.
L Krishnamoorthy of Science Park Publications told TNIE that the Frankfurt Book Fair offers a mobile application that enables networking, interactive hall maps and event scheduling, helping visitors locate publishers and books with ease.
“Bapasi has successfully organised 48 editions of the Chennai Book Fair, attracting crores of readers and becoming an integral part of Tamil Nadu’s cultural calendar. However, readers often struggle to find particular titles among hundreds of stalls. Many do not know where to go or which stall stocks the books they are searching for,” he said.
Krishnamoorthy suggested that Bapasi introduce an official mobile application with AI support, providing a searchable list of books available at the fair and guiding readers directly to the relevant stalls.
Echoing these views, Olivannan Gopalakrishnan of Emerald Publishers said publishers had been urging Bapasi for the past five years to introduce an app with integrated stall information. “It is unrealistic to expect readers to visit nearly 1,000 stalls to locate books of specific titles. Digital tools can help organise the fair better,” he said.
Responding to the concerns, Bapasi secretary S Vairavan told TNIE that the association has planned to launch a mobile application and that work on it is under way. He said the app could be ready in time for this year’s fair and that further details would be announced at a press meet on Tuesday.
K Sethuraman, founder of Readers Club, Nanganallur, said most publishers already possess complete digital data, including catalogues, prices and website details, making integration into a dedicated Chennai Book Fair app feasible. He suggested categorising publishers language-wise and genre-wise to help visitors quickly identify books of interest, browse titles in advance and plan their purchases efficiently before arriving at the venue.