Radio frequency surveillance!

District Library, Guwahati

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Jan 3: Bookworms visiting the reading desk in District Library, Guwahati have been under radio-frequency surveillance since March last to put an end to book lifting, but many of the readers are not aware of it.

Books allure bookworms some of whom cannot have them for various reasons. There were reports of books being lifted from the shelves of the library. There are people who keep surveillance of the bookreaders as well as books in the library shelves. Lifting of books may be the handiwork of any of those in the library, including those visiting the reading desk and staff as well. In order to put an end to the mece, the library authority installed a radio-frequency surveillance machine in the library. Each of the 46,100 books (approximately) in the shelves of the library has a sticker with radio frequency concealed in its cover that makes a loud sound as and when the book is taken out of the door without getting it issued in the computer. Twenty-five to thirty books, according to a library official, are issued for people visiting the readers’ desk. Around 50 people do visit the library and sit on the reading desk. The radio frequency machine is first of its kind to have concealed the books of any library in the State. Set up in 1955, the readership of the library is on the rise.  Since March last, cardholders of the library have been given new cards that are quite in sync with the new surveillance system in place in it. 

“The number of books has gone up much now and their upkeep has also been standardized. There was a time when the number of visitors to the library was falling fast. That was because of less number of books, that too, not of diverse tastes. However, we’ve raised the number of books suiting readers of all age and taste groups. We’ve also developed library infrastructure. Our efforts have paid off with the increase in the number of people visiting the reading desk,” the official said.