i

DEVELOPMENT OF A MULTI-PLATFORM ONLINE LIBRARY

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

(CASE STUDY: BELLS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY LIBRARY)

BY

OKEY IKECHUKWU OGBONNAYA

2010/1282

SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

AND

COLLEGE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION

TECHNOLOGY,

BELLS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, OTA, OGUN STATE.

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY (B.TECH) IN

COMPUTER SCIENCE

JUNE, 2014.

ii

CERTIFICATION

This is to certify that this project was clearly implemented and documented by OKEY

IKECHUKWU OGBONNAYA of the MATRIC NUMBER 2010/1282, and submitted to the

COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION

TECHNOLOGY, BELLS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, OTA, OGUN STATE for the award of a

degree.

Engineer Ezike

Supervisor Signature and Date

Professor E.R. Adagunodo

Head of Department Signature and Date

iii

DEDICATION

I will like to dedicate this project to God Almighty for seeing me through my stay in the university and

my parents, Engr. C. O. Okey and Mrs. J. O. Okey who gave me the opportunity of becoming a scholar.

I will also like to thank my wonderful siblings Ihuoma and Emmanuel who always show me great

support and love throughout my stay in the university.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

All thanks to the Almighty God for his infinite mercy, wisdom, strength and guidance throughout the

course of my academic career.

My profound gratitude to my parents Engr. C. O. Okey and Mrs. J. O. Okey, who have prayed and

cared for me in love right from my birth, May the Almighty God continue to bless you and grant your

heart desires in Jesus Name Amen. For his guidance and immense support, I will like to thank my

supervisor, Engineer Ezike who guided me on the way and manner of carrying out my project plus

encouraged me to struggle and overcome challenges during the course of my project.

For their support, I want to thank the Bells University Library Staffs for supporting me during the

process of development of this project.

I will also like to use the opportunity to show gratitude to the entire COLICT staff for their profound

lectures and guidance they bestowed on me during my stay at the university.

Finally, I want to thank Mr. Augustine Okere [former staff of Fleet Technologies Limited] for his

patience and guidance may God continue to bless you.

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ABSTRACT

The main aim of this project is to help solve the current problem of the readers service department,

collection and development department, technical department and the e-library. The current

readers desk management system automates the basic operations carried out in that department

but still has some limitations and prone to errors that can be caused by the network or the readers

desk.

The online library management system can be seen as a modern innovation that is expected to help

in the registration of users such as the students and teaching staff of the institution, registration and

the classification of books, extracting and storing the details of e-books, generating reports, accurate

calculation of fines, sending mails to registered users of the system to inform them of the new

collections and remind them to return borrowed materials. This system can perform two automated

tasks with the help of two windows services.

The windows service is a light-weight background program that provides core operating system

functions such as web services, error or report logging etc. In this project, the purpose of the windows

service is to provide web services for automatically adding defaulters to the defaulters list and

deleting user reservations. The main advantage of using a windows service is that the system can still

carry out its automated functions even when the application is not running.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE ....................................................................................................................................................................... i

CERTIFICATION ...................................................................................................................................................... ii

DEDICATION ......................................................................................................................................................... iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .......................................................................................................................................... iv

ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................................................. v

LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................................. viii

CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................................1

1.0 Library Overview ...............................................................................................................................1

1.1 Purpose of a Library ..........................................................................................................................1

1.2 Evolution of Libraries .........................................................................................................................1

1.3 Problem Statement ...........................................................................................................................3

1.4 Motivation .........................................................................................................................................4

1.5 Aim and Objectives ............................................................................................................................5

1.5.1 Objectives ......................................................................................................................................5

1.6 Methodology .....................................................................................................................................5

1.7 Justification of Research ....................................................................................................................6

1.8 Scope of Research .............................................................................................................................7

1.9 Contribution to Knowledge ...............................................................................................................7

CHAPTER TWO .......................................................................................................................................................8

LITERATURE REVIEW .........................................................................................................................................8

2.0 Library ................................................................................................................................................8

2.1 Library Management .........................................................................................................................8

2.2 Library Catalog ...................................................................................................................................9

2.3 Online Public Access Catalog [OPAC] ................................................................................................9

2.4 Library Management System (LMS) ............................................................................................... 10

2.5 Related Works ................................................................................................................................ 11

CHAPTER THREE ................................................................................................................................................. 26

SYSTEM DESIGN .............................................................................................................................................. 26

3.0 System Design ................................................................................................................................ 26

3.1 Purpose of System Design .............................................................................................................. 26

3.2 Goal of Proposed System ............................................................................................................... 26

3.3 Phases of Proposed System ............................................................................................................ 27

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3.4 System Architecture of Proposed Multiplatform Online Library Management System ................ 28

3.5 Four-Tier System Architecture of Proposed System ...................................................................... 31

CHAPTER FOUR ................................................................................................................................................... 47

SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION............................................................................................................................ 47

4.0 System Implementation ................................................................................................................. 47

4.1 The Home Page .......................................................................................................................... 47

4.2 Login Page .................................................................................................................................. 48

4.3 Library Administrator ................................................................................................................. 49

4.4 Circulation Desk Staff ................................................................................................................. 56

4.5 Acquisition Staff ......................................................................................................................... 62

4.6 Library Users ............................................................................................................................... 64

4.7 Classification Staff ...................................................................................................................... 66

4.8 E-Library Administrator .............................................................................................................. 67

CHAPTER FIVE ..................................................................................................................................................... 68

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ........................................................................................................ 68

5.1 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 68

5.2 Recommendation ........................................................................................................................... 69

References .......................................................................................................................................................... 70

APPENDIX 1: SOURCE CODE ..................................................................................................................................1

APPENDIX 2: TRANSACT-SQL STATEMENTS ....................................................................................................... 15

viii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 3.1 - Four-Tier System Architecture Of Proposed System [Adapted From N. Sivakumar, 2009.] ........... 30

Figure 3.2 - ER-Diagram for the Proposed Library Management System .......................................................... 32

Figure 3.3 Use Case Diagram for the Proposed Library Management System . 33

Figure 3.4 - Sequence Diagram for User Login ................................................................................................... 34

Figure 3.5 - Sequence Diagram for User Registration ........................................................................................ 35

Figure 3.6 - Sequence Diagram for Book Registration ....................................................................................... 36

Figure 3.7 - Sequence Diagram for Book Check-In And Check-Out ................................................................... 37

Figure 3.8 - Sequence Diagram for Searching .................................................................................................... 38

Figure 3.9 - Login Activity Diagram [STUDENT AND STAFF] ............................................................................... 39

Figure 3.10 - Login Activity Diagram [CIRCULATION DESK STAFF] ..................................................................... 40

Figure 3.11 - Login Activity Diagram [COLLECTION AND DEVELOPMENT STAFF] .............................................. 41

Figure 3.12 - Book Registration Activity Diagram .............................................................................................. 42

Figure 3.13 - Registration Activity Diagram ........................................................................................................ 43

Figure 3.14 - Search Activity Diagram ................................................................................................................ 44

Figure 3.15 - Class Diagram ................................................................................................................................ 45

Figure 3.16 Database Diagram ........................................................................................................................ 46

Figure 4.1 Home Page ..................................................................................................................................... 47

Figure 4.2 Login Page....................................................................................................................................... 48

Figure 4.3 User Management [STUDENT REGISTRATION] .............................................................................. 49

Figure 4.4 User Management [TEACHING STAFF REGISTRATION] .................................................................. 50

Figure 4.5 User Management [LIBRARY STAFF REGISTRATION] ..................................................................... 50

Figure 4.6 User Management [LIST OF EXISTING MEMBERS] ......................................................................... 51

Figure 4.7 User Management [UPDATING EXISTING USER DETAILS] .............................................................. 51

Figure 4.8 Book Management [BOOK REGISTRATION] ................................................................................... 52

Figure 4.9a Book Management [VIEW LIBRARY STOCK] ................................................................................. 52

Figure 4.9b Book Management [VIEW LIBRARY STOCK] ................................................................................. 53

Figure 4.10 Transaction Log ............................................................................................................................ 53

Figure 4.11a Fine Records ............................................................................................................................... 54

Figure 4.11b Fine Records [STUDENT FINE RECORDS] .................................................................................... 54

Figure 4.11c Fine Records [STAFF FINE RECORDS] .......................................................................................... 55

Figure 4.12a Classmark Books ......................................................................................................................... 55

Figure 4.12b Classmark Books ......................................................................................................................... 56

Figure 4.13 Student Registration ..................................................................................................................... 57

Figure 4.14 Teaching Staff Registration........................................................................................................... 57

Figure 4.15a Book Transaction ........................................................................................................................ 58

Figure 4.15b Book Transaction [ISSUE BOOK] ................................................................................................. 58

Figure 4.15c Book Transaction [FINE PAYMENT] ............................................................................................ 59

Figure 4.16a Fine Records ............................................................................................................................... 59

Figure 4.16b Fine Records [STUDENT FINE RECORDS] .................................................................................... 60

Figure 4.16c Fine Records [STAFF FINE RECORDS] .......................................................................................... 60

Figure 4.17 Reservations ................................................................................................................................. 61

Figure 4.18 Reminder ...................................................................................................................................... 61

Figure 4.19 Book Registration ......................................................................................................................... 62

Figure 4.20 View Stock .................................................................................................................................... 63

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Figure 4.21 Notification ................................................................................................................................... 63

Figure 4.22a Library Search ............................................................................................................................. 64

Figure 4.22b Library Search [BOOK DETAILS] .................................................................................................. 65

Figure 4.23a Library Page ................................................................................................................................ 65

Figure 4.23b Library Collection ........................................................................................................................ 66

Figure 4.24 Classmark Books ........................................................................................................................... 66

Figure 4.25a E-Book Registration .................................................................................................................... 67

Figure 4.25b E-Book Registration .................................................................................................................... 67

1

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Library Overview

A library can be defined as an organized collection of books and periodicals that are made

accessible to the public or members of an institution. It can also be seen as a building containing

collections of information resources that can be easily accessed by the public for reference or

borrowing. [Wikipedia, 2013], [Oxford Dictionaries, 2013]

1.1 Purpose of a Library

Below are the itemized list of library purposes:

1. In the academic sector, libraries provide information and support for members of an

institution or school in their pursuit of academic excellence. [Buena Vista University, 2013]

2. To meet up with the information needs of the public by providing materials or referral.

[Chelmsford Public Library, 2013]

3. Encourages the use of library materials and services for recreation. [Chelmsford Public

Library, 2013]

4. Libraries facilitate informal self-education of all people in the community. [Chelmsford

Public Library, 2013]

1.2 Evolution of Libraries

In an ancient kingdom located at the Southern Mesopotamia; Babylonia, the libraries there were

a collection of clay tablets. In 330 B.C. the first public library in Greece contained preserved works

of great dramatists. Out of these above mentioned libraries, the most famous libraries of

antiquity were those of Alexandria, founded by Ptolemy I, which contained some 700,000 Greek

scrolls. [Infoplease. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2013]

Libraries from Greece, Asian Minor and Syria were the first Roman libraries as a result of the

conquest in the first and second century. Early Christian libraries were in the residence of a

religious community called monasteries. From the ninth to fifteenth century, Arabs collected fine

2

libraries also the Jews and the Byzantines collected fine libraries during the medieval period.

[Infoplease. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2013]

In the year 1732, a circulatory library called the Library Company of Philadelphia in the United States

was chartered on the initiative of Benjamin Franklin. The first tax-supporting library was opened at

Philadelphia in the year 1833, then the American Library Association was later formed in the year

1876. Traveling libraries and book mobiles began to take books to people living in the rural areas

in the early twentieth century. [Infoplease. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2013]

By the end of the twentieth century, many resources were made available to library patrons in

electronic formats which could be easily accessed directly from home or work due to digital

revolution. [Infoplease. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2013]

3

1.3 Problem Statement

Through thorough investigation in the university library, it was discovered that the existing

computerized library system is not fully implemented or deployed because of poor network

infrastructure and network connectivity. As a result the library is operated manually by a group

of people in different department. The present e-library system does not have a database to

store the details of claimed e-books, neither does it have an emailing system for providing user

notification or information services. Claimed e-books are stored in different folders for each

college and their respective departments. This method of storage is primitive and inefficient to

carry out smooth operations such as fetching the details of an e-book, adding and deleting e-

books, updating the details of an e-book and downloading e-books.

In the Readers Service Department of the library section, student and staff registration processes

are done by providing the student or staff a registration form to fill in order to make him/her a

member of the university library. This form of library transaction can be made more effective by

computerizing the process.

Manual system is also employed in the process of issuing and discharging books in the library. In

the case of issuing books, the staff searches for students or staffs file among a huge pile of files,

then asks the student or staff for the number of copies left in the shelf for the book that is to be

issued. This system is time consuming and very unprofessional since a file system is employed in

storing library members data and secondly it is expected of the staff issuing a book to know the

number of copies left on the shelf for that particular book rather than asking the student or staff

the number of copies left in the shelf for a particular book. For effective and efficient operation,

library staff should have details of the books on shelf and off shelf at the click of a mouse button.

This implies computerizing the process.

In the Collection and Development Department books are registered by writing down the details

of each book such as the date the book was brought, accession number, author, title, publisher,

the year of publication, number of copies on both the accessions register [a document used in

maintaining the collection of books in the library] and bibliographic data worksheet [a data entry

worksheet that contains the necessary fields to enter the bibliographic data of each book] before

they are later registered into the system which uses Microsoft Excel worksheet. This form or

method of book registration is inefficient and a duplication of effort because the details of each

4

book are written down twice both on the accessions register and the bibliographic data

worksheet. Staffs from other departments take part in class marking the books brought to the

library due to the shortage of staffs in the Technical Department. From the library users point of

view the time taken to search for a book which may or may not be on the bookshelf or may not

be correctly ordered, is time consuming, thereby making the users frustrated and discouraged.

In the e-library section, the acquired e-books are classified into different categories using an

online catalogue. The e-books are later stored in different folders for each college and their

respective departments. For example e-books that are related to information technology are

stored in the COLICT [College of Information and Communication Technology] folder. This folder

contains two sub-folders, one for the Computer Science Department and the other for

Information Technology Department. Once the e-books are stored in their respective folders,

hyperlinks are generated manually for each e-book to enable users have access to them. This

method of transaction is time consuming, inefficient and primitive in a situation whereby 1500

e-books are acquired per session.

The reason for this research is to automate the manual processes carried out in the areas of

member registration, searching for existing member files, location of books in the library section,

registration of e-books, deleting e-books, updating details of existing e-books and providing easy

access for users in the e-library section. Failure to resolve the above stated problems in the

existing manual system may lead to a steady decrease of library usage and over-stretching of

existing staff. Thus leading to diminishing returns in library staff productivity.

1.4 Motivation The loss of time and money engendered by the inefficient operations in most section of the

library, particularly in record keeping of both hard and soft copies of books, monitoring the stock

and performing daily book transactions such as issuing books, discharging books, reserving books

and downloading available e-books in both sections of the library motivated me in carrying out

this research.

5

1.5 Aim and Objectives The aim of this project is to develop a multi-platform online library management system that can

both handle and manage the daily activities carried out in the library in an efficient and reliable

manner.

1.5.1 Objectives

The objectives of this project are listed below:

1. Develop a relational database to store book details (hard and soft), staff details and

student details.

2. Provision of a search functionality to enable users search for books efficiently and system

administrator search for users.

3. Provision of an e-book extraction functionality for extracting the details of the e-books in

pdf formats only.

4. Development of a user account management component to handle account related

matters for each user in different departments.

5. Designing a user-friendly interface for the users to enable them navigate through the

system on the web.

6. Emailing system/Mail services for user notification or information.

1.6 Methodology

In order to provide solution in achieving the above objectives, using Bells University library as a

case study, the following will be carried out:

1. Carried out a detailed literature review to better understand current issues in library

researches, studies, their operations and implementation using modern technology.

2. Thorough study of Bells university library will be carried out through continuous visits and

observations of the library environment.

3. Design an Online Library Management System that can be used in Bells University of

Technology Library. The process of designing this system is listed below:

6

a. Design the user interface with different views using UML. The UML diagrams

produced will include: Class Diagram, Sequential Diagram, Activity Diagram and E-R

Model.

b. Four-Tier architecture will be employed in the development of the application and

Singleton software design pattern will also be used.

c. Stored procedures and LINQ [Language Integrated Query] will be used for easy

database transactions

such as INSERT, DELETE, UPDATE and SELECT.

d. The application will be developed with a server-side programming language ASP.NET

in C#

4. Implementation of the design in 3 above will require the following tools:

a. Microsoft Visual Studio 2012.

b. ASP.NET in C# will be utilized in server-side programming.

c. Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 2012 for the database.

d. A content management system like DotNetNuke to manage the contents of the web

application.

5. Implementation and unit testing will be carried out in the development cycle of the

application.

6. Proper documentation will be carried out.

7. Training of library staff on the software and hardware will be introduced.

1.7 Justification of Research 1. This study will help in providing better solutions in areas where the existing system is not

effective.

2. The proposed system will automate the daily activities carried out in both sections of the

library. The benefits of a content management system would automatically scale the

application to fit various devices such as tablets, smartphones and smaller browser

windows, enable quick and easy page management and provide web application manager

easy access to shared resources.

7

1.8 Scope of Research This project is primarily focused on improving the daily activities carried out at Bells University of

Technology [BUT] library. This improvement includes: computerizing the registration process of

books both in hard copy and soft copy [e-book], students and staffs; providing email notifications

services to all members (staff and students) of the library and providing easy means of monitoring

the library stock, leading to a more reliable and smooth system of operation.

1.9 Contribution to Knowledge A content management system will be employed in the development of the web application for

the purpose of page management, user account or profile management and automatic scaling of

application to fit various devices. The introduction of emailing system and efficient search engine

for both books and library members to both sections of the library will improve and smoothen

the processes done in those sections. Efficiency and effectiveness are met at certain standards.

8

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Library

A library can be defined as a depository built to house a collection of books, literary documents,

or records for studying or borrowing. It can also be seen as a building containing collections of

information resources that can be easily accessed by the public for reference or borrowing.

[Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press, 2013]

In [Grant-Ezeronye Grant, 2011], the library is divided into different housekeeping operations

which include:

1. Acquisition Control

2. Serials Control

3. Cataloging and Classification

4. Circulation Control

5. Web Cataloguing

6. Metadata Linking

2.1 Library Management

This is a sub-discipline of the institutional management that focuses on specific issues faced by

the librarians and library management professionals. It encompasses normal management tasks

as well as intellectual freedom, anti-censorship, and fundraising tasks. Issues faced in library

management frequently overlap those faced in management of non-profit organizations.

[Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

Below are the basic tasks in library management:

1. Planning the acquisition of materials [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

9

2. Negotiating borrowing materials from other libraries [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

3. Selection of library materials [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

4. Stacks Maintenance [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

5. Fee collection process [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

6. Membership Management [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

7. Responding to challenge [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

8. Approving and designing events [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

9. Fundraising [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

The long-term issues addressed in library management are:

1. Planning the construction of new libraries [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

2. Extensions to existing ones [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

3. Building Maintenance [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

4. Updating the information books and new version [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

2.2 Library Catalog

This is a register of bibliographic items (e.g., books, computer files, graphics, realia, cartographic

materials, etc.) found in a library or group of libraries, such as a network of libraries at several

geographical locations. A bibliographic item can be seen as any information entity that is

considered library material or a group of library materials linked from the catalog as far as it is

relevant to the catalog and to the users (patrons) of the library. [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation,

2013]

2.3 Online Public Access Catalog [OPAC]

This can be defined as an online database of materials held by a particular or group of libraries.

It can also be defines as a computerized system to catalog and organize library materials. An

OPAC is available to library patrons to search the catalog for bibliographic items (e.g., books,

computer files, graphics, regalia, cartographic materials, etc.). [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation,

2013], [Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, 2013.]

10

2.4 Library Management System (LMS)

This is a computer-based system that the functions carried out in the library such as acquisition,

cataloging, circulation, budget management and collection analysis. The heart of every library

management system is a relational database where all records or data related to the library and

users are stored. The number and names given to different subsystems [modules] in an LMS may

vary from one system to the other. Todays modern LMS offers the various combinations of these

modules: Requisition, Acquisition, Cataloguing, Circulation, Serials Control, Enquiry, OPAC

[Online Public Access Catalogue], Inter library loans, Self-service stations, Federated search,

Mobile Library and more. [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

Throughout the years, computer-based systems have been referred to by different names which

are:

1. Automated Library System (ALS) [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

2. Automated System [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

3. Housekeeping System [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

4. Integrated Library System [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

5. Integrated Automated Library System [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

6. Library and Information Management System (LIMS) [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation,

2013]

7. Library Management System and more [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013]

11

2.5 Related Works

[Neelakandan etal, 2010] implemented an automated library management system for the

University Department Library in the School of Chemistry Bharathidasan University. This work

was motivated by the inefficient and static [not dynamic or flexible] methods of carrying out the

daily activities in the library plus the great importance of applying modern techniques and

approaches for the efficient retrieval and dissemination of information and services for the

clientele.

The main objective of this study is to automate the Departmental Library of Chemistry by

implementing an automated system using Koha Library Integrated Open Source Software.

The methodology used in carrying out this research work involves integrating a free and open

source software with other third party applications such as: MySQL dump utility for MySQL

replication dumps, MySQL database etc. Monitoring the activities in the School of Chemistry

Library and taking stock of situations. Then performing physical examination of the books in order

to extract their bibliographic details which are later entered in an excel sheet.

The researchers successfully implemented the Koha Open Source Software but there were

limitations which occurred in the process of implementing the automated library management

system. These limitations include:

1. LACK OF INFRASTRUCTURAL FACILITY: This has to do with problems related to

infrastructure such as: Lack of Hardware; Lack of Software; Lack of Network Facilities and

Lack of Financial Resources.

2. LACK OF ENVIRONMENTAL SUPPORT: [Neelakandan etal, 2010] categorized this

problem into External and Internal problem. According to their research the internal

problem can be solved by the institution but solving the external problem may be difficult

to solve. The external problem has to do with generating power to run the library

management system.

3. LACK OF FINANCIAL RESOURCES: The University support for all departments were limited

to books and racks in the library. As a result of this no fund was allotted to the automation

software package, which lead to the implementation of a free open software in the

chemistry library.

12

[Sivakumar, 2012] defines a library management system (LMS) as a multi-user, multi-tasking

integrated library management software that works either on a single machine or in a client-

server multi-platform environment designed for managing various activities of a library. Since a

library contains a very large collections of books and large number of members, it is impossible

for the librarian to manage the day to day activities manually.

In this study, the library management system consists of various modules and functionalities

which includes:

1. ACQUISITION

2. CATALOGING

3. CIRCULATION

4. OPAC [ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOG]

5. SERIALS

6. ADMINISTRATION

7. STOCK VERIFICATION

8. INTER LIBRARY LOAN

9. ACCESSIONING

10. MASTERS

11. MIS REPORTS

12. ADMINISTRATION

The table below is an overview of the functions carried out in each module.

MODULES FUNCTIONS

ACQUISITION Customization of acquisition reports,

Printing of acquisition reports and order list,

Creating a publisher directory,

Generating accounts reports; Balancing of

budget, Creating outstanding order report,

Generating items report

13

CATALOGING Creation of catalog on Author, Title, Class,

ISBN and Series,

Detect duplicate records,

Importing files downloaded from online

database, Editing cataloguing,

Providing Authority files such as Authors,

Subjects, Editors, Titles and Keywords,

Generation of Authority list

CIRCULATION Generation of overdue notices,

Loan period control,

Generating statistics of materials borrowed,

Checking the availability of an item,

Reserving books,

Maintaining a circulation list,

Online request,

Automated fine calculations and accounts,

Printing borrowers card

OPAC Search for bibliographic items in the library.

The search could be based on the Author,

Title, Class, ISBN and Series of a particular

material

SERIALS Subscriptions to new periodicals are carried

out in this module.

ADMINISTRATION Renewal of periodicals,

Generation of claims for the materials not

received, Generate Suppliers Directory,

Generating statistics of periodicals received,

Producing periodical budget and balance,

Approval and ordering,

Cataloging of journal articles, indexing and

abstraction,

Periodic documentation list

STOCK VERIFICATION Stock verification of display, on shelf,

checked out, lost, written off, damaged,

missing, reference and withdrawn.

It also includes reporting on the status of

items in the library.

INTER LIBRARY LOAN Borrowing and returning of books,

magazines, journals etc. from external

libraries

14

The name of the software package implemented in this work is LEARNSOFT. It is a digital library

management system that helps in carrying out day to day library activities such as the

acquisitioning of library materials [books journals, serials, etc.], cataloging, circulation control,

serials control etc.

LEARNSOFT can be configured to suit the specifications of an organization by choosing one or

more of the modules it consists of. It works well on stand-alone machines as it does in a network

of computers. According to [Sivakumar, 2012] LEARNSOFT is a versatile software that can be used

in various types of libraries such as: University Libraries, Public libraries, Corporate Libraries,

Schools or Colleges and Individuals Collection [Personal Library].

LEARNSOFT possesses the following features:

MODULES FEATURES

CATALOGING Catalog any type of material such as Books,

Articles, Audio and Video Media, Serial

publications etc. This is done based on AACR2

(Anglo American Cataloguing Rules) standard.

CIRCULATION Member Information,

Registration card with members photograph

and barcode ID,

User specified code of member ID,

Subjects of interest for members,

Loans and reservations data retrieval by

borrower identification,

Inventory/Circulation status,

Physical stock verification,

Transaction logging,

Binding issues or receipts,

Shelf list,

Tracking fines and fees due,

Calendar master for maintaining holidays,

Rules based on computation of fines for

overdue items,

Deferred reservations to ensure availability of

items on shelf at specified future date,

Inter library loan monitoring system,

Prioritized reservation queue

ACQUISITION Proposal for acquisition,

15

Inquiry to book sellers/publishers,

Purchase orders (foreign / local),

Books on approval memos,

Purchase bills,

Payment details of purchase bills,

Credit notes,

Detailed information about vendors,

Multiple Currencies and conversion rates

SERIALS CONTROL Keeping track of receipts of issues, filing claims

for issues not received, preparing binding

orders, etc.

Journal Title Information includes: Title,

Abbreviation, ISSN and other identification

numbers,

Publisher/Agent,

Periodicity,

Delivery Mode,

Gratis/Exchange/Depository,

Multiple Address for Communications,

Holding note for Union catalog,

Separate list of journals on proposal

BULLETIN PRINTING Helps in the publication of an information

bulletin containing particulars of the latest

additions of books or articles.

SELECTIVE DISSEMINATION SERVICE (SDS) Enables users to record their preferred

subjects and change their preferences at any

time either from the web interface or through

the librarian.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS This module is responsible for producing

different statistical information required for

library management such as: Distribution of

transactions over working-hours, week-days,

or

Months, Popularity of subjects, Popularity of

item types, Most active or inactive items and

members

BUDGET CONTROL SYSTEM Provides for multiple budget heads and

periods, multiple currencies, and periodic

expense tracking. The budget master database

16

contains the values of actual expenses,

purchase orders raised, credit notes received

and the balances remaining from the total

amount, etc. for every budget head.

It is also responsible for maintaining the details

for various budget periods. These details

include:

Distribution of loans and overdue loans for a

borrower category,

Distribution of loans and overdue loans for a

subject group,

Reservation queue sizes and

average waiting period Information is

presented in the form of bar charts, pie charts,

etc.

ON-LINE SEARCH FACILITIES This module provides On-line Public Access

Catalogue [OPAC] facility which offers

powerful on-line search facilities to search

through library

catalogues: Author, Keyword, Subject class,

Title, Publisher, Place of publication, Main

entry, Material type, Place of conference,

Subject name, ISBN / ISSN, Year of conference,

Series Titles, Serials Title and Year of

Publication.

[Tan Chaur Chuan, 2010] points out that library management system is mainly used by librarian

and library administrator. The librarian is able to manage the following modules: Member

maintenance module; Book maintenance module and Book transaction module. [Tan Chaur

Chuan, 2010] also stated that the library management system allows user [librarian] to manage

the publisher as well as lost book module. The other type of user which is the admin level staff is

able to handle the staff module and view the report module.

The main objective of this work is to automate the daily transactions that take place in the library

in order to eliminate the traditional paper-work and to prevent the occurrence of missing records

or files. Bar Code and SMS technology were implemented in this work.

17

The methodology used in the development of the system is Waterfall Model. The waterfall model

is a software development model that consists of the following stages which are:

1. Requirement Analysis

2. System Design

3. Programming

4. System Testing

5. System Evaluation

[Tan Chaur Chuan, 2010] explains that the requirement analysis is a stage to gather the user

requirements such as functional requirements. The next stage is the system design where the

design of the user interface and database will take place. Programming stage is the next stage

after the system design and this stage has to do with coding. After the coding stage is the system

testing, this is carried out in order to minimize system bugs. System evaluation is the last and

final stage of the waterfall model which involves comparing it with an existing system.

In this work the library management system is divide into two: the online website and the library

system. The project scope of this work is the library system.

[Tan Chaur Chuan, 2010] divide the library system into different modules and functions which

are listed below:

MODULES FUNCTIONS

AUTHORIZATION AND AUTHENTICATION ID/Password Checking, Password Recovery

MEMBER MAINTENANCE Add new member, Edit member, Print ID card, Search member

BOOK MAINTENANCE Add new book, Edit book information, Generate barcode, Search book

PUBLISHER MAINTENANCE Add new publisher, Edit publisher information, Search publisher

18

EMPLOYEE MAINTENANCE Add new employee, Edit employee, Search employee

BOOK TRANSACTION Rental Module, Check Reservation, Return Module, Fine Module, Lost Book Module

REPORT Transaction Report, Top 10 Book Report, Activity Log

[Tan Chaur Chuan, 2010] encountered some problems in the development process of the

project. These problems include:

1. The user requirements were not gathered from the end user in the planning stage of the

project. The requirements were gotten from the internet and opinions of supervisors

and friends.

2. The project did not start on time.

3. There was a problem with the logic of the program due to some errors in the user

interface design.

[Kumar, 2012] defines an online library as a system that maintains books in the server in any

format. It allows storing books, documents, audio and video files. The online library enables users

to search and open documents by giving a simple query. [Kumar, 2012] also defines an online

library management system as a system, which maintains books, documents and audio/video

files. In order to use this system one must be a member of the library. Library members or

registered users can search for books by giving a simple query. The online library uses internal

feedback from the user to improve search processes in every search. The system also makes use

of indexing to locate documents very fast in a search that is related to the query. This project was

motivated by the defects of the existing system which includes: using manual methods to record

the details of acquired library materials; low level of security; complexity arises in the

maintenance of library catalogue and arrangement of books to the catalogue and difficulty in

generating information reports.

19

The objectives of this project are: to provide users an easy way to register online and have

personal accounts; automate the daily activities that are carried in the library such as issuing

books, returning books, registering books, audio/video files, e-books, generating reports etc.

[Kumar, 2012] carried out an analysis of the existing system by gathering and interpreting the

facts, diagnosing the problems. A problem analysis was also carried out in order to have a clear

understanding of the needs of the users and what is expected of the automated system. The

analysis was done in the form of interviews, questionnaires and information from

documentation. The major problem encountered during the analysis is resolving how to organize

the information from documentation. System diagrams such as USE CASE Diagrams, Sequential

Diagrams, Collaboration Diagrams, Activity Diagrams, Class Diagrams, Deployment Diagrams and

E-R Diagrams were employed in the design of the system. Database design was also carried out.

Then the system was tested for errors and deployed on server.

The tools used in the development of this system are:

1. NetBeans IDE 7.0.1

2. J2EE Technologies JSP, Servlet and JDPC

3. Oracle 10g Database

4. HTML, JavaScript and Java Server Pages Front End.

[Tripathi and Srivastava, 2012] developed a library management system for the purpose of

monitoring and controlling the transactions in a library. The application provides facilities to

students or members in searching for required books and also allow the system administrator or

librarian to issue and return books plus creating and deleting members of the library. The

researchers defined system analysis as a detailed study of the various operations performed by

a system and their relationship within and outside of the system.

[Tripathi and Srivastava, 2012] carried out a detailed analysis of the existing system in a library

and discovered that daily library transactions are done manually. Such transactions include:

borrowing and returning of books, searching for existing members and books then finally

preparing a list of borrowed books and available books in the library. An automated system was

developed after the feasibility study to rectify the manual difficulties in managing the library. The

20

researchers specified the system requirements for running the application and these

requirements include: Windows 98 or NT 4.0 Operating Systems (software requirements) and

486 to 500 MHz microprocessor with a RAM ranging from 8 MB to 32MB (hardware

requirements).

The system implementation phase in the research work involves transforming the theoretical

design to a working system. [Tripathi and Srivastava, 2012] divided the implementation phase

into ten steps and in each step different web pages are developed. These pages include: Login

Page, Welcome Page, User Profile Page, Change Password, Search Page, Admin Login Page,

Admin Home Page, Book Transaction (Issue and Return) and Add Book Page. There was a limited

time framework in the development and implementation of the software.

[Adams etal, 2007] developed a web-based library management system using Java Server Page

[JSP], servlets and JDBC. Entity-Relationship Model was used to design the database that will

store and organize the librarys data. The aim of this work is to implement a library management

system that has an internet-based graphic user interface which will enable the users to access

the system remotely.

[Adams etal, 2007] carried out a requirement analysis to determine the needs or expectations

of the users and to have an understanding of how the library is being operated. The expectations

of the system include: The presence of a database to store information pertaining to its users,

media stored in the library and the physical location of other branches of the library; Keeping

track of the status of each media item; Registering users for the library card. In the process of

carrying out the analysis the researcher were able to outline the functions of each user of the

system, starting from the customers and then the librarian. For the purpose of this work the

media is limited to books and videos.

The researchers made use of the Entity-Relationship Model [E-R Model] to guide them in

designing the relational database of the library management system. The relational database is

normalized to a third normal form [3NF] in order to remove any form of redundancy. The user

interface of the system is done by considering how the database is accessed. This lead [Adams

etal, 2007] to use the JDBC API [Java Development Connectivity API] in designing the interface

of the software.

21

In conclusion [Adams etal, 2007] were able to design and implement the library management

system and a relational database to manage the system. There will be an improved account

management and search functionality for future development.

In [Grant-Ezeronye, 2011] a library is a collection of resources i.e. books and periodicals that

allows users to have access to its resources, make use of them and borrow them whenever they

want to. The researcher also defined the library as a collection that is maintained by an institution

and shared by people who cannot afford to purchase many books by themselves or would prefer

to make use of the items because they preferred to. The aim of this project is to develop an

automated system that will improve the readers desk operation at the University Library [Bells

University Library Case Study]. Barcode reader and fingerprint scanner are used in the

development of the system.

The research methodology of [Grant-Ezeronye, 2011] involves studying the existing automated

system at the readers desk; reviewing existing literatures; making use of waterfall model for the

software development cycle; documentation and training of staff on the hardware and software

of the system. The scope of this project is limited to automating the operations carried out at the

readers desk department. These activities include: issuing and returning books, registration of

both users and books and the sign-in and sign-out processes of users.

The implementation of the barcode reader and fingerprint scanner was successful. This

implementation helps in making the operations to be done simultaneously thereby saving time

and reducing errors. The automated system is limited to a number of operations such as

registration, check-in/out of books, etc. performed at the readers desk. Other processes like

attending to request forms, non-members of the university, getting and arranging important

newspaper clips etc. as well as placing the system online in order to allow users view available

books on the shelf were not attended to.

[Grant-Ezeronye, 2011] recommended that the Bells University librarian to employ the use of the

software to the Circulation department of the library because the system will help to reduce the

error encountered in the manual labor involved in the library activities and also increases

operation speed. The research also

encourages students and staff to develop the system further due to its limitations.

22

According to [Maureen and Blessing, 2011] library automation has to do with the act of

computerizing the daily activities of the library system. These activities include: users and

materials registration, issuing and returning books, locating materials and calculating overdue

fines of defaulters. The researchers pointed out that the manual method of library management

system in most state universities for example Delta State University are prone to problems in the

following areas: Registration of users, Monitoring the stock of library materials, Waste of energy

in searching for a particular material.

The aim of this project work is to design an automated system that will help university libraries

to keep accurate track of the transactions done by storing the information about library users.

Then giving an accurate location of library material to ease the search of library users and keeping

track of all borrowed and returned books.

[Maureen and Blessing, 2011] reviewed different literatures related to their work, carried out a

system analysis of the existing library system to determine the setbacks it has. Design the system

through the use of structured flowcharts. [Maureen and Blessing, 2011] designed the database

using the SQL [Structured Query Language] Enterprise Manager. The tables design for the system

are:

1. The Catalogue Table

2. The Circulation Table

3. The Serial Table

4. User Account Table

5. Library User Table

[Maureen and Blessing, 2011] explains that there are various tasks carried out in the

implementation phase of the system, these tasks involve program development; testing and

debugging of the program; the acquisition and installation of the hardware and the training of

the library staff in order to be able to operate the system. The software architecture employed

in the development of the system is a 2-tier architecture. The system is then tested for bugs. This

involves two program testing which are: The Alpha testing and The Beta testing.

In conclusion the system [librarysoft] can monitor the operations of the library, speed up

searching processes, validating users and generating reports for the library staff to assist them in

managing the resources of the library.

23

[Bhupendra etal, 2011] developed an online library management system for the purpose of

automating the operations carried in a library. The system provides facilities for users to aid them

in performing specific task with ease. Such facilities include: Stock Maintenance; Report

Generation and Transaction Entry. The scope of this project work is limited to institutions and

offices. The authors of this research work carried out a feasibility study of the present library

system in order to identify and analyze the drawbacks of the present system plus to understand

the flow of operation carried out in the library.

[Bhupendra etal, 2011] divided the system into three components, the first component is

responsible for maintaining the stock of the library; the second component is responsible for

logging transactions and finally the third component is responsible for generating reports. Three

data tables were created during the development of the system which are: Members Table, Add

Book Table and Issue Table. E-R Model [Entity-Relation] and DFD [Data Flow Diagram] were

employed in designing the system.

[Bhupendra etal, 2011] stated that in future new features can be added as required and it can

easily be implemented under various situations. The scope of the system involves: Extensibility

[making improvements on the system]; Reusability [reusable codes for maintenance and

upgrades]; Understandability [the source code can easily be understood by another programmer

other than the creator] and Cost-effectiveness [minimum cost is required to implement the

system].

In conclusion the system has a highly efficient GUI based component. The system was

implemented successfully and it meets all the requirements of the users.

[Nair, 2011] stated that a solution developed using the .NET technology was introduced to

improve the accuracy of the information handled in libraries. This solution helps the

administrator accomplish his tasks at ease and allows users to sign-up or sing-in easily since it is

an online library management system. From the administrators view the system helps him/her

to monitor the stock of the library, manage the library and other related information from his/her

desktop. From the users view the system them to sign-in and effectively search for books,

24

borrow or reserve books if they are available in the library. The details of both the library

materials and users are stored in the database.

The aim and objective of this project is to create a library management system which sorts the

administrators, staffs and students separately.

[Nair, 2011] pointed out that a feasibility study is carried out to determine whether or not a

project is worth doing. The researcher also mentioned that feasibility study is performed in order

to determine the feasibility of a project such that the content and recommendation of the study

will be used as a basis for deciding to proceed, postpone, or cancel the project. [Nair, 2011]

classified feasibility into the following types: Technical Feasibility, Operational Feasibility,

Economic Feasibility and Social Feasibility. Through thorough feasibility study of the present

system some problems were identified and analyzed. The system was divide into three

components which are:

1. Stock Maintenance

2. Transaction Entry

3. Report Generation

[Nair, 2011] made use of the following technologies to develop the library management system:

ASP.NET 2.0 in C#, Visual Web Developer Express Edition and SQL Server Express Edition. The

software development model used in the development cycle of the system is the Waterfall

Model. According to [Nair, 2011] the waterfall model consists of the following stages which are:

1. Requirement Analysis and Definition

2. System Design Phase

3. Coding

4. Testing

25

[Nair, 2011] explains that the requirement analysis and design stage has to do with establishing

the systems services and goals by consulting the end-users of the system. The next stage involves

establishing the overall system architecture which includes data structures and algorithm. In the

coding stage, the design is converted into a machine readable form. The final stage of the

software development cycle is the testing stage where the logical internals of the system are

tested to ensure that the system meets up with the user requirement and to uncover hidden

bugs.

In conclusion the system was developed using a very friendly GUI [Graphical User Interface] and

the implementation was a success.

26

CHAPTER THREE

SYSTEM DESIGN

3.0 System Design

This can be defined as the process of defining the architecture, components, modules, interfaces,

and data for a system to satisfy specific requirements. It can also be defined as the design of

systems which implies a systematic and rigorous approach to design. It is seen as the application

of systems theory to product development. [Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2013], [Dubberly

Design Office, 2013]

3.1 Purpose of System Design

The primary purpose of system design is to define the overall architecture, type, scope and

number of systems that will be developed, procured and modified to implement a particular

project. [Flightsystems, 2013]

3.2 Goal of Proposed System

The goal of the proposed system is outlined below:

1. AUTOMATION: The online system will be designed in such a way that it will eliminate the

traditional paper-work in carrying out daily library operations and prevent the occurrence

of missing records and files.

2. PLATFORM INDEPENDENCE: The online system will be able to run on various software

platforms in terms of operating system such as Android, Windows and iOS. This feature

can be achieved by making use of a content management system [DotNetNuke for this

project] in order to automatically scale the application to run on the various stated

operating systems. Therefore the online system will be accessible through the web

browsers of laptops, smartphones, tablets and desktops.

3. CONVINIECE: Users can register into the system with their laptops, smartphones or

tablets without physically being in the library. Users should be able to login to the system

conveniently with their portable or mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets and

laptops. Users should be able to download e-books and reserve books online.

4. MAINTENANCE: The online system will be designed in such a way that the components

of the system will be developed in a modular form i.e. the components of the system will

be developed in modules so that the system can be maintained easily.

5. INTEGRITY: Records can only be added, modified or deleted by an authorized user.

27

6. ACCURACY: The automated online system should be able to reduce errors to the

minimum.

3.3 Phases of Proposed System

The proposed system will be divided into two phases and they are:

1. HARDWARE PHASE: This phase involves the integration of a webcam for taking user

profile picture.

N.B: The webcam integration is only done for desktops.

2. SOFTWARE PHASE: This phase can be divided into two sub-phases:

a. Front End User Interface [Web pages]

b. Back End Database [Relational Database]

The development tools used in designing the proposed system are:

1. MICROSOFT VISUAL STUDIO: Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development

environment [IDE] from Microsoft which is used to develop console applications, graphic

user interface applications, websites, web applications and web services. Applications

developed with visual studio are done in both native code and managed code for all

platforms supported by Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile, .NET Framework, .NET

Compact Framework and Microsoft Silverlight. [Wikipedia, 2013]

Visual Studio includes a code editor that supports Intellisense as well as code refactoring.

It possesses an integrated debugger that works as a source-level debugger and a machine-

level debugger. Other built-in tools include a forms designer for building GUI applications,

web designer, class designer, and database schema designer. Visual Studio supports

different programming languages by means of language services, which allow the code

editor and debugger to support (to varying degrees) nearly any programming language,

provided a language-specific service exists. Built-in languages include C/C++ (via Visual

C++), VB.NET (via Visual Basic .NET), C# (via Visual C#), and F# (as of Visual Studio 2010).

[Wikipedia, 2013]

2. MICROSOFT SQL SERVER MANAGEMENT STUDIO: Microsoft SQL Management Studio is an

integrated environment designed for accessing, configuring, managing, administering, and

28

developing all components of SQL Server. It has two tools which are script editors and graphic

tools that work with objects and features of the server plus it grants access for developers

and administrators of all skill level. A key feature of SQL Server Management Studio is the

Object Explorer, which allows the user to browse, select, and act upon any of the objects

within the server. Other features include: Enterprise Manager, Query Analyzer, and Analysis

Manager. [Wikipedia, 2013]

In addition to this, SQL Server Management Studio works with all components of SQL Server

such as Reporting Services and Integration Services. Fleet Technologies makes use of SQL

Server Management Studio to create databases for the web applications, write stored

procedures in order to perform logic operations, create SQL transactions and crystal report.

[Wikipedia, 2013]

3.4 System Architecture of Proposed Multiplatform Online Library

Management System

System architecture can be defined as a conceptual model that defines the structure, behavior

and gives more vies of a system. It can also be defined as a set of conventions, rules and standard

that is employed in the technical framework of a computer system plus customer

requirements and specifications, that the system's manufacturer (or a system integrator) follows

in designing (or integrating) the system's various components such

as hardware, software and/or networks. System architecture can also be seen as a generic

discipline to handle objects called Systems, in a way that supports the structural reasoning of

the objects. [Wikipedia, 2014], [BusinessDictionary.com, 2014], [Boris Golden, 2014]

There are four types of system architecture namely:

1. INTEGRATED ARCHITECTURE: This is a type of system architecture where system

upgrades and growth are done by replacing the entire components of the system.

[Themetisfiles, 2014]

2. DISTRIBUTED ARCHITECTURE: This is a type of system architecture that is designed to

enable growth and scale multiple workloads. In this architecture, system upgrades are

done by replacing the components of the system. [Themetisfiles, 2014]

29

3. POOLED ARCHITECTURE: This type of architecture is designed to enable efficient scaling

and growth of multiple workloads. System upgrade is done by replacing the system

components within a pool. System growth is done by adding system components to a

pool. Computing, storage and networks are in separate resource pools consisting of

component blocks and orchestrated separately [Themetisfiles, 2014]

4. CONVERGED ARCHTIECTURE: Converged system architecture is a type of architecture

that is designed to support rapid deployment of multiple workloads. Computing, storage

and networks are in separate resource pools which are jointly orchestrated and are in a

single chassis. System upgrade is through swapping components within the chassis.

System growth is through adding components to empty chassis slots. [Themetisfiles,

2014]

30

Figure 3.1 - Four-Tier System Architecture Of Proposed System [Adapted From N. Sivakumar,

2009.]

31

3.5 Four-Tier System Architecture of Proposed System

The above system architecture shows how the system operates and functions. It consists of four

layers: The Business Object Layer, Presentation Layer, Business Logic Layer and Data Access

Layer. The business object layer [BOL] represents the stack holders of the system i.e. the people

that will make use of the system. The presentation layer [PL] represents the web pages or web

forms that act as an interface for the users to interact with the system. The business logic layer

[BLL] represents the logical operations carried out by the system, such operation includes:

calculation and validation operations. The data access layer [DAL] consists of data access

methods, data access components and a relational database which stores all the information

related to the library such as books [Hardcopy and Softcopy], library users with their properties

and functions.

32

Figure 3.2 - ER-Diagram for the Proposed Library Management System

33

Figure 3.3 Use Case Diagram for the Proposed Library Management System

34

Figure 3.4 - Sequence Diagram for User Login

35

Figure 3.5 - Sequence Diagram for User Registration

36

Figure 3.6 - Sequence Diagram for Book Registration

37

Figure 3.7 - Sequence Diagram for Book Check-In And Check-Out

38

Figure 3.8 - Sequence Diagram for Searching

39

Figure 3.9 - Login Activity Diagram [STUDENT AND STAFF]

40

Figure 3.10 - Login Activity Diagram [CIRCULATION DESK STAFF]

41

Figure 3.11 - Login Activity Diagram [COLLECTION AND DEVELOPMENT STAFF]

42

Figure 3.12 - Book Registration Activity Diagram

43

Figure 3.13 - Registration Activity Diagram

44

Figure 3.14 - Search Activity Diagram

45

Figure 3.15 - Class Diagram

46

Figure 3.16 Database Diagram

47

CHAPTER FOUR

SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION

4.0 System Implementation

System implementation can be defined as the construction of the new system and the delivery

of that system into production i.e. the day-to-day business or organization operation. It can also

be seen as the process of defining how the system should be built, ensuring that the system is

operational and used and finally ensuring that the system meets quality standards i.e. quality

assurance. [N.p., 2014], [N.p., 2014]

System implementation covers a broad spectrum of activities from detailed workflow analysis

to the formal go-live of the new system. Therefore the overall working feature and conditions

of the system are to be highlighted and components are described. [HRSA, 2014]

4.1 The Home Page

The home page of the library management system is composed of a welcome message and

bells university logo. It serves as the welcome screen to the users of the system. Below is the

pictorial view of the home page

Figure 4.1 Home Page

48

4.2 Login Page

The login page serves as an access point for existing users of the system. It allows users with

username and password to access the system and carry out operations that are relevant to the

user. It also allows new users to register for a username and password in order to gain access

into the system. The username uniquely identifies each user of the system and the password is

a string of characters used to authenticate the user or prove the identity of the user or access

approval to gain access to resources or the system.

In case of a mismatch in the username and password, the system would display an error

message Login Failed. Please remember that passwords are case sensitive.

Figure 4.2 Login Page

49

4.3 Library Administrator

The library administrator holds the primary role of leadership in the library. In the library

management system, the library administrator is responsible for administering user roles to

different users of the system. The administrator is seen as a super user and has a better

privilege than regular library staff and users. Below is a list of pages that can be viewed by the

administrator:

1. USER MANAGEMENT

2. BOOK MANAGEMENT

3. TRANSACTION LOG

4. FINE PAYMENT

5. CLASSMARK BOOKS

USER MANAGEMENT: The user management page enables the library administrator to add new

users and manage or view existing users. At the point of registration, each new user [student,

teaching staff and library staff] is assigned a role to enable them carry out activities relevant to

their role.

Figure 4.3 User Management [STUDENT REGISTRATION]

50

Figure 4.4 User Management [TEACHING STAFF REGISTRATION]

Figure 4.5 User Management [LIBRARY STAFF REGISTRATION]

51

Figure 4.6 User Management [LIST OF EXISTING MEMBERS]

Figure 4.7 User Management [UPDATING EXISTING USER DETAILS]

52

BOOK MANAGEMENT: The book management page enables the library administrator to add

new books and view the library stock.

Figure 4.8 Book Management [BOOK REGISTRATION]

Figure 4.9a Book Management [VIEW LIBRARY STOCK]

53

Figure 4.9b Book Management [VIEW LIBRARY STOCK]

TRANSACTION LOG: The transaction log is a record of the activities carried out in the system,

these activities include: user registration, book registration, issuing, renewing and returning of

books, fine payment etc.

Figure 4.10 Transaction Log

54

FINE PAYMENT: The fine payment page enables the library administrator to view fine records.

Figure 4.11a Fine Records

Figure 4.11b Fine Records [STUDENT FINE RECORDS]

55

Figure 4.11c Fine Records [STAFF FINE RECORDS]

CLASSMARK BOOKS: The classmark books page enables the library administrator to classmark

books.

Figure 4.12a Classmark Books

56

Figure 4.12b Classmark Books

4.4 Circulation Desk Staff

The circulation desk staff is responsible for registering users, issuing and discharging books,

attending to the reservation requests of the students and teaching staff and fine payment.

Below is a list of pages that can be viewed by the circulation desk staff:

1. REGISTRATION

2. BOOK TRANSACTION

3. FINE PAYMENTS

4. RESERVATIONS

5. REMINDER

57

REGISTRATION: The registration page enables the circulation desk staff to register new users.

Figure 4.13 Student Registration

Figure 4.14 Teaching Staff Registration

58

BOOK TRANSACTION: The book transaction page enables the circulation desk staff to carry out

the following transactions: issue book, renew book, return/discharge book and fine payment.

Figure 4.15a Book Transaction

Figure 4.15b Book Transaction [ISSUE BOOK]

59

Figure 4.15c Book Transaction [FINE PAYMENT]

FINE PAYMENT: The fine payment page enables the circulation desk staff to view fine records.

Figure 4.16a Fine Records

60

Figure 4.16b Fine Records [STUDENT FINE RECORDS]

Figure 4.16c Fine Records [STAFF FINE RECORDS]

61

RESERVATIONS: The reservations page enables the circulation desk staff to view reserved

books made by students and staff.

Figure 4.17 Reservations

REMINDER: The reminder page enables the circulation desk staff to send reminder messages in

the form of an e-mail to users who have a day left to return possessed books.

Figure 4.18 Reminder

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4.5 Acquisition Staff

The acquisition staff is responsible for registering books, monitoring the library stock and

sending notifications about new book arrivals to registered users. Below is a list of pages that

can be viewed by the acquisition staff:

1. ADD BOOKS

2. VIEW STOCK

3. NOTIFICATION

ADD BOOKS: The add books page enables the acquisition staff to register/add new books to the

systems database.

Figure 4.19 Book Registration

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VIEW STOCK: The view stock page allows the acquisition staff to view the library stock [list of

registered books].

Figure 4.20 View Stock

NOTIFICATION: The notification page allows the acquisition staff to send notifications

concerning new collections of books to the mailboxes of registered users.

Figure 4.21 Notification

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4.6 Library Users

The library users are those that make use of the library for the purpose of gaining knowledge

and research. For the purpose of this project the library users are limited to the students and

teaching staff of Bells University of Technology. Below is a list of pages that can be viewed by

the teaching staff and students:

1. SEARCH

2. LIBRARY

SEARCH: The search page allows the students and staff to search for books in the library by

title, subject and author.

Figure 4.22a Library Search

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Figure 4.22b Library Search [BOOK DETAILS]

LIBRARY: The library page enables the students and staff to view the entire book collection in

the library.

Figure 4.23a Library Page

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Figure 4.23b Library Collection

4.7 Classification Staff

The classification staff is responsible for classifying the books in the library. The CLASSMARK

BOOKS page is viewed by the classification staff.

Figure 4.24 Classmark Books

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4.8 E-Library Administrator

The e-library administrator is responsible for adding e-books.

Figure 4.25a E-Book Registration

Figure 4.25b E-Book Registration

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CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Conclusion

What I have achieved in the course of this project is developing an online library management

system that can automated the activities carried out in the various sections of the library. The

implementation of an email service as stated on previous sections has been achieved. The system

is able to carry out automated task such as the deletion of user reservations and adding

defaulters to the defaulters list through the use of a windows service.

I have been able to study the current section of the readers service, collection and development

and technical departments plus the e-library. I also reviewed various literatures on different

library management systems. This project has been able to establish the use of a class library

from iTextSharp to extract the metadata of pdf files to ease the registration process of e-books

in the e-library. The module responsible for extracting e-book details was designed for pdf files

only. The major challenge in the process of extracting e-book details from pdf files is that not all

pdf files have a complete meta-data. As a result, the system will not be able to effectively extract

and store the details of the e-books.

The report generation feature of the system enables the library staff in the readers service

department and the collection and development department to generate reports in an excel

format. This enables them to possess a printed copy of the generated reports.

Lastly, this project has been able to show an architectural design [four-tier system architecture]

of an online library management system using Microsoft Enterprise Library for database

connectivity, iTextSharp Library for extraction pdf metadata and windows service to carry out

automated tasks. The differences between my work and that of [Grant-Ezeronye, 2011] is that

the developed system is a web-based management system. It possesses an emailing functionality

for sending notifications and reminders. It is capable of carrying out automated tasks through the

use of a windows service. The online library management system provides the functionality of

extracting pdf details from the meta-date of pdf files and is able to record the various transactions

or activities carried out in the library.

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5.2 Recommendation

I hereby recommend the Bells University librarian to employ the use of this automated software

to the University Library. The system will reduce the errors encountered, and the manual process

involved in the library activities; and also to increase operation speed.

The online library management system only automates the activities carried out in the readers

service department, collection and development department, technical department and the e-

library. Processes like attending to non-members of the university, getting and arranging

important newspape