Guide to building a Library Management System, features, and cost
Nowadays you get a lot of reading material online, still, it is always fun to read books in the library. Well, it may be easy for us to borrow books from the library to read and return them, but for a librarian, it is not easy to manage various tasks involved in library management. The librarian needs to maintain a record of different things like book issues, book searches, fess for late submission of books etc. It may result in a lot of errors during the process for which the library owner and admin may have to face losses.
To prevent such errors in the management of libraries, a library management system website can be helpful. It has made a lot of library owners opt for such solutions to manage libraries effectively. If you are running a library and want to enable smooth library management, this blog would help you understand the development, cost, features, tech stack, team size, etc.
How does a Library Management System helpful?
Before you decide to invest in library management web design and development solutions, you need to know how it is helpful for your library. So, let us have a look at how LMS (Library Management System) helps manage your library.
LMS offers an easy method to issue books and save time for members and librarians.
The system enables the librarian to avoid possible errors.
Helps library members to perform a lot of activities like issue books, calculate late fees, track dates for resubmission or returning of books, etc
The library members can also track if a book is available or not before issuing it to the user
The system helps library members log in to get books, and search for the shelves according to their needs.
LMS streamlines the overall distribution process for a book using, ordering and replacement. It offers real-time updates which allow easy management for admin.
LMS systems are accessible from anywhere and anytime by library users.
Who can benefit from a Library Management System?
A lot of organizations are using the Library management system. Also, a lot of colleges, schools, and private libraries are using this system. The system is used for the following
National Libraries
Private Libraries
Research Libraries
Modern Public Libraries
Children Libraries
Academic Libraries
Reference Libraries
Libraries in Schools and Colleges
Public Lending Libraries
The above places are benefited from Library Management System to help the libraries function without any hassles.
What are the benefits of an efficient Library Management System?
When it comes to LMS, it acts as a perfect system that helps libraries in different ways. It helps librarians manage book records with details on issued, not-returned, or re-issued books. Some other benefits are
The system helps cut down the costs towards management of the library
It saves time
Boost efficiency of library staff
Enhances Library Presentation
The process to follow for Library Management System Development
You can split the Library Management System Website development process into different phases like
Market Research
Creating a plan
Execution
Let us know the details of each phase
1. Detailed Market Research
The entire development process to build a library managing system is not an easy task as it comprises multiple features, interactive design, and a lot more.
You should focus on the needs of the audience to make your software cater to their needs. For this, get into detailed market research to know the user preferences.
To perform market research, you can either let your marketing team (in-house) work on the project to fetch accurate data. Secondly, you can hire an efficient marketing team to do the job. It is always better to go with the second option wherein you can ask for every minute detail you want to know about like
Details of your competitors
The strategy adopted by your competitors
Features present in existing websites
Understanding your audience will help you build a custom solution to meet user needs and gain profits
2. Create a plan
After getting the details of the market, the next step is to create a proper plan which will help you sail through a successful development process.
The planning should focus on the tech stack, features, development team, platform, etc for your website.
3. Implementation & Testing
This is the last step of the development journey. Here you need to focus on design and implementation. Once you are done according to your plan, it is time to test your website before you launch it online.
When it comes to the design of your library management system, make sure the system design should be flexible for your staff and the users. So, keep the design simple, easy to use, and ensure it performs well.
Once you have finished working on the web design and development process, you need to test the website. Make sure you test the solution from every possible aspect. The iterative way of testing helps eliminate all bugs and errors.
Essential features for building a Library Management System Solution
The LMS system would be divided into 3 different panels to serve different user groups. Each panel will have a set of features as mentioned below
Staff Panel
Edit Profile
Issue Books
Issued Books
Book List
Request Books
Real-time Notification
Student Panel
Account
Request Books
Attendance
Reminders
Locate Books
Book List
Easy Payments
Admin Panel
Manage Members
Seamless Payments
Complete Dashboard
Manage Database
What is the Tech-Stack you should consider for Library Management System?
Push Notifications - Push.io, Twilio
Backend PHP/NodeJS/ASP.Net
Front-End - React Native/Angular JS, XML
SMS, Voice, & Phone Verification - Twilio, Nexmo
Database - HBase, MongoDB, Postgress, Cassandra, Mail Chimp Integration
Navigation - Google Map
Real-Time Dashboards - Custom-Development, PubNub
Payments - Stripe, Braintree and PayPal, EWallets
Cloud Environment - CloudFirestore, AWS, Firebase, Azure
What is Team Structure required for building a Library Management System?
After knowing about the tech stack and features, you need to know about the team structure required to work on your LMS project. You need a professional Library Management website development company to manage the development process. With an experienced website development team having the following members in the team you can attain your goal.
Project Manager
Backend Developers
UX/UI Designers
Database Experts
QA Experts
Delivery Manager
Cost to Create a Library Management System
The estimated cost to build a Library Management System depends on multiple factors like
Number of pages on a website
Location of the Development team
Website features
Website functionalities
Deadline for the project
Wrap Up!
You may get a lot of material online for reading, but the libraries are never going to go. Instead, libraries are undergoing a technological transformation. This will help schools and colleges embrace a robust library management system that eliminates manual efforts and integrates automated processes to make it flexible.
WebFox, a trusted website development company equipped with experienced website developers and designers can help you develop a scalable and efficient library management system to save time and cost.
We integrate features that make your website the ideal platform to help the library members, library owners, and library staff to manage the library flawlessly. Connect with us to share your ideas to build a library management system that facilitates streamlined management.