📚 Library Book Processor

Library Book Processor is a full-stack library management system built as a university capstone project. It gives library staff and patrons a single, centralized place to manage books, holds, and other library resources, with real-time tracking, inventory management, and record maintenance backed by a shared database.

The project was built to practice designing and delivering a complete, database-driven web application end to end, from data modelling through to a usable interface. (2022)

✨ Features

📖 Book Management Add, edit, search, and remove books and other library resources.

📦 Inventory Management Keep an accurate count of what the library owns, what is available, and what is checked out.

📌 Holds Place and manage holds on items so patrons can queue for materials that are currently unavailable.

⏱️ Real-Time Tracking Item status and availability are read from the central database, so staff and users see the same up-to-date information.

🗂️ Record Maintenance Create, update, and retire records for books, patrons, and library resources.

👥 Staff and User Access Separate workflows for library staff and everyday users of the system.

🗄️ Centralized Database All library data lives in a single database, keeping records consistent across the application.

🛠️ Tech Stack

• C# / .NET (Visual Studio solution)
• HTML/CSS/JavaScript
• Relational database (SQL)

🧠 How It Works

The application is a web front end backed by a central database. Staff and users interact with the system through the web interface, and every action (checking out a book, placing a hold, updating a record) reads from or writes to the same data store, so the state of the library is always consistent.

        Staff / User
              │
              ▼
         Web Interface
              │
              ▼
       Application Logic
              │
              ▼
      Centralized Database
   (books, holds, resources)

Each library resource is stored as a record with its availability and status. Holds are linked to both a resource and a user, which lets the system track who is waiting on what and update availability as items move in and out of circulation.

📱 User Flow

1. Sign in as library staff or as a user.
2. Search or browse the library catalog.
3. View an item's details and current availability.
4. Place a hold on an item that is unavailable.
5. Staff process checkouts, returns, and incoming books.
6. Staff update inventory and maintain records as the collection changes.
7. Changes are saved to the central database and are immediately reflected for everyone.

🏗️ Project Structure

Library_Book_Processor/
├── Book Processing Software for Public Libraries/
├── Book Processing Software for Public Libraries.sln
├── HTMLPage1.html
└── README.md

Book Processing Software for Public Libraries

The main application project. Contains the application logic, data access, and user interface for managing books, holds, and library resources.

Book Processing Software for Public Libraries.sln

Visual Studio solution file used to open, build, and run the project.

HTMLPage1.html

Standalone HTML page used for the web front end.

🚀 Getting Started

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/AjayArora1/Library_Book_Processor.git

2. Open Book Processing Software for Public Libraries.sln in Visual Studio.
3. Configure the database connection for your local environment.
4. Build and run the project.

🎯 What I Learned

This project provided hands-on experience with:

• Designing and building a full-stack application as a capstone deliverable
• Modelling relational data for books, holds, and library resources
• Building create, read, update, and delete workflows against a central database
• Keeping inventory and availability consistent across multiple users
• Separating staff and user workflows within one application
• Planning, building, and presenting a larger project over a full term

📄 License

This project is available for educational and portfolio purposes.