CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Project Context

In today’s technological era, technology is one of the essential

tool in creating innovations and advancements that will benefit the

society of the modern age. One of the facility that require enhancing

the efficiency of its operations is library. A library is an establishment

where students enrich and strengthen their knowledge, and a library

that converge its relationship with technology will make a great

improvement to the process in its facility, making it more efficient,

convenient and modernized. Traditionally, all transactions inside the

library are recorded manually. Students are required to fill-in the

forms given before entering and borrowing books. Librarians spent

most of their time organizing and monitoring books, as well as

searching for student records. Furthermore, librarians are mandated to

create and submit an inventory of books in handwritten format, which

is time-consuming, inconvenient, and tedious.

In the City of Boston in Massachusetts, about 126 out of 73

public schools in Boston does not have a functioning library system

due to lack of reading materials and library curators, and for the

remaining 53 public schools that has a functioning libraries only 13 of

institution only utilizes library management system, called

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LibraryWorld (Froggartt, 2016). It was reported that out of 40% of

students in Boston that will start high school by the school year of

2017-2018 will never utilize the school library because they cannot

borrow and search for books since the library facility does not follow a

bibliographic process, unorganized and lack of reading material

(McKiernan, 2016).

In the status of the secondary school libraries in Ifugao province,

Nelly B. Agpawa conducted a study to discover those libraries that are

functional and not functional. The major findings of the study is that

out of 37 schools in Ifugao, there are only 9 functional libraries that

has functional card catalog and performs a little extent of proper

accessioning, cataloging and classification with the utilization of the

Dewey Decimal Classification, Sears List of Subject Headings and

Cutter’s Table and most of the librarians had limited experience as a

librarian and to those 28 school that do not have a functional library.

The study concluded that the library facility of a far-flung province of

Ifugao should be further strengthened by having an electronic library

management system that will aid the secondary institutions of Ifugao

and must have a primary concentration to those school does not have

a functional library. With proper physical set-up, organization and

maintenance of holdings, then the library facility of secondary schools

in Ifugao will be on the right track (Agpawa, 2006).

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In Tagum City, Tagum National Trade School only utilizes the

manual process. This means that the librarian will manually write the

student details in a borrowing slip for students, create reports for

various book transactions including borrowing and returning, as well as

reports for unreturned books. According to the designated librarian of

the institution, the library does not have an existing library

management system. In terms of bibliographic process, books are only

organized according to its classification and is displayed with no

further processing based on the Form 1 of School Library Profile. There

is also no process of accessioning in the library where each and every

book has a specific identification number for the borrowing process.

With the following problems identified, the researchers proposed

the study entitled: “ELIBHUB: A computer-based library management

system” which is a very essential key to improve the library facility

and to digitally assist the librarians and students of the institution in

performing various library transactions including borrowing books,

searching for books, and listing the books.

Purpose and Description

The project was conducted in order to assist the institution’s

librarian and students, in order to have an organized, responsive and

technologically improved library. By utilizing eLIBHUB, students will

invest less time in borrowing and returning books and librarians will
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easily create an inventory of books, generate and print records of

borrowers.

The eLIBHUB have the following capabilities:

1. Register two (2) types of users: Librarian and library users;

2. Users that are created can log-in into the system after

registration;

3. Register basic information of borrowers who intend to load out

books and print summary of borrowers;

4. Perform various book-related transaction which includes adding

newly accessioned books, borrow/return books and printing

reports of newly added books;

5. Scan and Generate QR code in order for the end users to

retrieve their username in case they forgot;

6. Send an SMS or Email notification to the library users to inform

them that their borrowed reading material is on the due date.

Objectives of the Study

The main objective of the project is to develop a library

management system entitled: “ELIBHUB: A computer-based library

management system” in order to provide an automated library

management system in Tagum National Trade School where the

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system is capable of registering users, borrowing transaction and

generating reports.

The following statements are the specific objectives of the study:

1. To add a log-in module where specific user can log-in to the

system after registration;

2. To include a Registration module where the librarian can

register library user or another librarian;

3. To create a Borrowers module where the librarian can

perform borrowing transaction for students and teachers who

intend to borrow books and can also generate reports for the

list of borrowers;

4. To add Books module where the librarian can perform adding

newly accessioned books, editing book details, borrowing

transactions and generating reports;

5. To include a Scan QR code module where the end users could

log-in to the system by scanning their own unique QR code;

6. To create a Notify User module by utilizing Global System for

Mobile communication (GSM) modems in order to send

messages to the library users and Simple Mail Transfer

Protocol (SMTP) for sending e-mails.

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Scope and Limitations of the Study

This section describes the extent of the study that includes the

boundaries of the study and the potential weaknesses of the study.

The eLIBHUB is designed for the registration of users, borrowers,

borrowing and returning of books. In addition, the system is capable to

generate reports such as the monthly report of students and yearly

report of book inventory in which is only accessible by the authorized

librarian and also it is capable of printing the reports then exporting

those generated report to MS Excel and Word. Furthermore, the

eLIBHUB can send messages via email or SMS providing library users a

notice whether their borrowed book is near the due date. Lastly, the

system could also retrieve passwords and usernames by scanning and

generating a unique QR code for each users of the system in case they

will fail to remember their password as well as their username.

However, the system cannot perform some processes like

generating report that will identify which track and strand that borrows

books frequently. Furthermore, it is not designed as a Local Access

Network (LAN) since it is only a stand-alone system.

Significance of the Study

This section enumerates the beneficiaries and explains how they

will be benefited by the library system.

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This study will be beneficial to the following:

1. Tagum National Trade School. The computer-

based library management system will benefit the school as it

will become digitally active in terms of information technology in

the 21st Century. The school will upgrade to a highly

technological school just like the other schools that are aligned

with information technology.

2. Administrators. The computer-based library

management system will help the administrators to have the

reports recorded on the library facility such as the monthly

report of students and annual report of book inventory which

minimizes the chances of lost books in the library. Moreover,

there will be no expenses in buying a software, large filing

cabinet and logbooks, since the proponents of the study will

develop an electronic library management system to store the

information and transactions inside the library.

3. Librarian. The computer-based library management

system will help the librarians to immediately search the

particular record of a student. In terms of book inventory,

librarians could easily identify and monitor the number and

availability of books in the library. In addition, they could also

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ensure that the book that is being borrowed is returned in good

condition.

4. Teachers. The computer-based library management

system will help the teachers find all the books that are only

exclusive for them.

5. Students. The computer-based library management

system will assist the students to locate the book they wanted

and be able to borrow books in a convenient and secure way.

Students will no longer write and submit an index card for

authority to borrow, because the system could automatically list

down the borrowers of books of a specific period of time.

Definition of Terms

1. Library Management System. It is a software used for

managing all the catalogs in the library. It digitally organizes all

the data of every books in the library based on its identification

number or literatures.

2. Data. Basic information of students, teachers and users who

intend to log-in into the system or perform borrowing and

returning books transaction.

3. Database. It is a collection of data stored in an electronic device

that is organized and well-structured in order to manage, define,

access, and update easily.

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4. Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC). It is an online

bibliography of a library catalogue that is accessible to anyone

on the internet.

5. Programming Language. A type of written language that gives

instructions to the computer or any other devices. Programming

languages are essential in developing a software. Examples of

programming languages are C++, Java, PHP, Visual Basic, etc.

6. System. It refers to the software components or programs that

is executable in an electronic device or computers.

7. Module. It refers to a part of a program that performs specific

task. Each module in a program which contains one or several

routines must be compiled together in order to work as one.

8. Graphical User Interface (GUI). Is a form of human-

computer interface that allows the users to interact with electronic

devices through icons, menus and any other visual indicators.

9. QR Code. Is a type of 2D bar code that is composed of small

squares and being utilized to provide an information through

smartphone by scanning. It is usually being utilized to store URL

links, geographic coordinates and text. The significant key feature

of QR Code is that the user does not have to type for a long

sequence of character.
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10. Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM). Is a

standard that is being developed by the European

Telecommunications Standards Institute. This digital mobile

network is widely used by mobile phone users in order to send and

receive messages.

11. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). Is a communication

protocol that is responsible for sending and receiving e-mail. The

protocol follows a process called “store and forward” that enables

your email to move on and across networks.