Colombo _International_ Book Fair... #CIBF2011

Colombo International Book Fair 2009 by Skandhakumar Nimalaprakasan

The Colombo International Book Fair is happening for the 13th time at BMICH now. I have been to the fair couple times and I have seen a rapid growth in it, but the question is, is it "International"??

සමයං... I don't think so, because it is very unorganized and a better job can be done by the organizers. Like most of the public events of Sri Lanka, it is held back by the ancient thinking patterns of the authorities. So here goes my suggestion to make the experience more "book-worm" friendly.

Change the orientation !!!

Now the exhibition is planned according to the publisher, I suggest a layout based upon the book category/genre.

There should be basic divisions based on language, Sinhalese, English, Tamil and Foreign Languages. Then these should be divided into sub divisions such as,

• Translations (these into more sub divisions like Russian translations, Chinese translations, etc). 
• Novels, Frictions & Short Stories (more sub divisions like Romantic, Horror, Science Friction, Teen, Kiddies, etc)
• Academic (sub divisions by academic level such as O/L, A/L and by areas of study such as IT, Project Management, HRM, Finance, Economics, etc)
• Hobbies & Lifestyles (sub divisions such as handy-crafts, cookery, gardening, photography, etc)
• Biographies & Autobiographies
• Magazines, DVDs and other media

I am sure that I missed many segments ( මම පොත් ගුල්ලෙක් නොවෙමි ), but the point is by following a structure like this books can be found and enjoyed! The problem I had in my every visit to the book fair was I got lost in the ocean (a pretty tough one) of books.

Okay... By now, you might be thinking, "How the heck can the publisher get his money?" and "I like publications of this *blah blah blah* publisher, how am I supposed to find books by them?"

I suggest the "Sri Lanka Book Publishers Association" to use a simple information system and to use bar-codes, or to be more up-to-date.. QR codes to mark books. 

Each item on sale should have an ID and information such as division 1/2/3.., publisher, language, discount percentage and so on. Many publishers already uses computerized system to keep track of their publications, so for them it is a matter of migration. And by use of OCR, information from traditional publishers can be easily computerized. Initially this data gathering process will take time, but in the coming years only the new publications are needed to be added.

Many POS terminals can be installed throughout the premises to make the purchase a less hectic process. As and when a deal is done the money can be transferred to the publishers account automatically. Around 1-2 (max)% from the book's value can be charged as service charges on behalf of  Book Publishers Society of Sri Lanka.

So that solves how the money is sent to the publisher and how SLBPA earns.

For the second question, the solution is Help Desks or Kiosk Machines. Kiosk machines can be placed so that a reader can search publications by any criteria they wish. After finding, the reader can be provided withe a small direction sheet.

So that's my plan. Obviously this plan can be more streamlined. I think the biggest benefactors of this new approach would be the publishers. The resources they need to invest on the exhibition can be cut off by a huge portion. A trained group of personals representing SLBPA is all that is needed to operate the exhibition. Giving MORE ROOM for the book lovers.

Idlers and perverts can do their work without being a nuisance to book lovers. Non-book-worms like me would actually spend some money to buy a book, and won't come out empty handed like I did for the last couple of years.

Logos Hope book exhibition is a good example of a well organized book exhibition. But the problem there is the limited range of choice and unavailability of best sellers.

දැන් මේ වැඩේ ලංකාවෙ මිනිස්සු එක්ක කරන්න පුළුවන්ද?

my answer for that question is... කොහොමහරි කරන්න ඕනෙ, බැහැ කියල බෑ...

Now tell me, is this a fairly good plan or not. What are the loop holes? Where did I missed out? Lets get this plan together! And make sure the authorities see this and implement the damn thing! Cause WE ALL WANNA BUY GOOD BOOKS!!! :D

P.S. මම මේ ප්ලෑන අස්සට social media දාගත්තෙ නැහැ, හැබැයි දාගත්තට පාඩුවක් නැහැ සරියට වැඩේ කරනවනම්. ඒක පස්සට, මේ වැඩේවත් මුලින් කරගමුකො.