The Department of Library Services hosts international conference on trends and challenges in knowledge dissemination An international conference titled 'Libraries Beyond Borders: Innovative Trends, Issues And Challenges In Knowledge Dissemination (ICLBB 2017)' was organised by the Department of Library Services on the 18th and 19th of August, 2017. The conference was co-organised by the Library and Information Science Society for Asia and the Pacific (LISSASPAC). The event, a first of its kind for CMC, was inaugurated by Director Dr Sunil Chandy. Other dignitaries in attendance were Principal Dr Anna B Pulimood, Vice-Principal Dr Solomon Sathishkumar, Conference Director & former professor of the Department of Library & Information Sciences, University of Madras, B Ramesh Babu, and former Chief Librarian of AIIMS, Dr R P Kumar. 

The conference attracted 250 participants from different parts of the world including Sri Lanka, South Korea, Nigeria, Thailand and Bangladesh as well as representatives from almost all Indian states. Professor Dong-Geun Oh from the University of Keimyung, South Korea, Professor Wathmanel Senevirantne from Open University, Sri Lanka and Professor Sujin Butdisuwan Mahasarakham from the University of Thailand were the keynote speakers. Rich tributes were paid to the Father of Library Sciences, Dr S R Ranganathan, at the event that was organised in honour of his 125th birth anniversary. 

At the pre-conference day proceedings, about 172 unpublished articles were published and released by Dr Chandy and the first copy was received by Dr Pulimood. 

The RFID-enabled Library System (RFID is short for Radio Frequency IDentification) was dedicated at the Gault Library by Rev Anantha Arputha Mary and Rev Reinard Pearson during the course of the conference. Sincere thanks was extended to Mr Ebinezar Sundarraj, Head of the Department of Computerised Hospital Information Services (CHIPS) for his whole-hearted support for the project. Organizing Secretary and Head of the Department of Library Services of CMC, Dr Joyson Soundarrajan also extended his gratitude to Dr I Azariah and Dr R Senthil Kumar, Senior Librarians of the institutional libraries, Gault and Dodd, for all their efforts that led to the grand success of the event.