Reservation System for the Library - Term Paper Example

Project Progress Report: Reservation System for the Library Table of Contents I. Introduction II. Elaborated and Structured Project Proposal Document (PPD) III. The Problem Domain, Scope, Objectives , Target Group and Proposed Solution IV. Database Design and Information (Requirement) Analysis V. Methodology VI. Software/Tools and Modelling Techniques VII. Project Plan (Schedule) VIII. Progress Against the Planned Work IX. Evidence for the Progress X. Current and Future Reading Lists XI. The Impact of the Supervised Work on the Progress of the Project XII. Conclusion XIII. References Appendix I. Introduction The library is a place, which is used by students, researchers, teachers and other users for gaining knowledge, depending on the subject and their desire for information. The reservation system for books is a part of any library and can be online or manually. This project will focus on the local library that does not have a database reservation system for the public to use in the library or which they can have access to at home. The database being created is for the reservation system. It will be integrated with an on-line reservation system (It will be created in another assignment). At present moment, reservation of a book is done manually. For this, the library users have to complete a reservation card and hand it to the librarian for reserving book and have to check regularly or have to wait for postcard, which is sent to their home address to confirm that the book is arrived and they can collect it. The library for which this database is being created is Wood Green Central Library and is located at 187-197A Wood Green High Road, London N22 6XD. The library has approximately 50 employees, has a turnover of 3 million, and is the main library for the borough of Haringey. Government grants helped to provide the library with a Learning Centre, a number of computers for public use, additionally several reading groups operate from this library, and there is space to host art exhibitions. The purpose of this reservation system is so that students, teachers and the housebound can gain a better service of the library and can take their time to search for a particular book that they want, whether it is for coursework or for teaching purposes. This system will be useful, efficient and user-friendly. In this reservation system, the user has an option either to search by title, author, publication or class (subject). This will be achieved by creating a simple reservation system for the local library by using Microsoft Access to produce a database. This work will be useful to other students who might be creating a database on a particular subject, as they will be able to gain ideas from the database that will be created. This paper is a project progress report (PPR) for a database reservation system for the library. This PPR will cover different topics, such as the scope and objectives of the project, database design and information analysis, methodology and approach, software/tools and modelling languages, schedule of the planned work, progress against the planned work, evidence for the progress claimed, current and future reading lists and impact of the supervised work on the progress of the project. II. Elaborated and Structured Project Proposal Document (PPD) The project topic is "Reservation system for the Library". The local library does not have any proper database system for reserving books, which can be a problem for users; therefore, the proposed solution would be to create a database reservation system for library, which will be used mainly by the public for making reservations on borrowed books. This system will be useful, efficient and user-friendly. The concept of creating a database reservation system for the local library for this dissertation topic came from Westminster’s University library, which has a reservation system to make reservations, renew books and to check the loan history. It is easy to access and use the University’s reservation system from home, this system is simple to use and has the option to either key in the title, author or class number. The main reason for developing this database system is that the local library supplies a wider range of textbooks for library users to borrow and it would be helpful and easy for various people to use a reservation system for borrowing books. In addition, this database system will also provide future guidance to students and developers for creating similar applications (database management system). This reservation system will be developed using Microsoft Access, therefore books on Microsoft Access and UML would be useful in order to design the various diagrams, such as use case, entity relationship, data flow and schedule. Rational Rose and Microsoft Project can also be used. The main diagram that will be used will be an entity relationship diagram (ERD), data flow diagram (DFD) and use case diagram and the model that will be used is the prototyping model. III. The Problem Domain, Scope, Objectives , Target Group and Proposed Solution Problem Domain: The local library does not have any proper database system for reserving books, which poses a problem for users. Scope: Developing a reservation system for the local library to manage books, articles and to keep track of borrowed books and any fines for late return of the books. The details of all the books will be kept in the database. However, in any library there are certain types of books, which are not reserved or cannot be taken home for reading. These types of books are available only for reading in library premises. Therefore there will be two types of category (can be increased) for the reservation of books, that are reserved and non-reserved category books. Moreover, the library user will be able to reserve only those types of books, which will be in reserve category. Aim: The aim of the project is to provide a reservation database system for students, teachers and the housebound, which would be a great benefit to them for both personal and academic purposes. Objectives: The objectives of the proposed reservation system for the library are: Before creating a reservation database system, to get ideas from other library websites, questionnaires. To supply readers with an efficient and effective reservation database system by making a database for the local library. To provide a reservation system to the local library, which the public will have access to use. To provide an efficient system for the reservation (database) of books borrowed from library students, teachers and housebound users. To make a database system that will be helpful in future development in similar applications and integration with any online system to use it from online (website). Target Group: The reservation system targets users from different domains such as students, teachers and housebound. Proposed Solution: The proposed solution is creating a database for the reservation of books from the library. Accountability: This reservation system will benefit readers in its efficiency. It will also obtain valuable suggestions from them in the form of a questionnaire. Library users would not have to worry about waiting in queues for long and the system will be easily manageable by library staff. Economic Considerations (Cost): This database system will be made from Government grant and the library funds will be not used for this purpose, therefore the library can use the money to spend on other resources. There will be no paper wasted after implementation of this database system, as this system will use computers. At presently there is a charge of £1.20 to reserve a book manually. This cost to reserve a book can be reduced if any online method for reservation is implemented. This cost can be reduced in two ways, administrative cost and mailing cost (postcard). For example, in current system once a book is reserved, the library user only knows status of the book, when he/she receive postcard. This is achieved by the library sending the user a postcard to their home address to say that the book has arrived and they should collect it. However, with the on-line system with proper database, the user can check online the status of the book. This will cut out the administration cost of the librarian checking for the book and then sending a post card with stamp to say the book has arrived. IV. Database Design and Information (Requirement) Analysis Preliminary Analysis of Some Library: I have analyzed the University of Westminster library and found certain useful things. To reserve an item (book) one need to select to log on to the on-line reservation system by entering his/her login details (Login ID and password). Once you have done this you select the item you want to reserve and then place a reservation on it. Other university libraries such as UCL, Kings College, and City University have too this facility of reserving books on line, which requires login details. Additionally other libraries in different boroughs such as Islington Libraries in North London provides this on line reservation service, but the user only needs to enter their library card number to go on line to reserve. This number is usually of 14 digits. For example for using Springdale Library one need to follow following procedure (Step): 1. The link for library site. http://www.springdalelibrary.org/ 2. Click on Databases link at top of page. 3. Click on EBSCO Host Online Databases 4. Enter 21234251623458 into Patron Id window that opens. 5. Click login 6. Click on EBSCOhost link and select resources for search. For my library database when someone reserves a book on-line, pay for the book when collect it from the counter, the charge will be pending on his or her card. However if they do not collect the reserved item on time i.e. 3 weeks then the charge will remain on their card regardless of the fact that the item is uncollected.   Database Design: Database design refers to the tables, columns, relationships, keys and indices of which a database is comprised. The process of designing a database begins with an analysis of the business requirements that must be met. It is the process of producing a detailed data model of a database. This model contains all the needed physical design choices and physical storage parameters needed to generate DDL1, which can then be used to create a database. A fully attributed data model contains detailed attributes for each entity. An Overview of the Database Design Process: According to Davidson (2001), the process of designing a proper database system has a few things in common with designing an efficient computer system of any kind. It is a relatively straightforward task. It can be very time consuming. It seldom is done with the kind of vigour that is required. (Davidson 2001, p. 21) According to Davidson (2001), the process of designing any database can be broken down into a few steps, they are: Defining Objectives: Functional performance and reporting requirements for the final system to be created is defined. Logical Design: It is the process of designing a logical path to achieve the objectives, done in an implementation, and an independent way. Here SQL2 will be not referenced much because logical database design is independent of physical database design and implementation. Physical Design: The process of the adaptation of a logical design into a real implementation. The physical design phase is concerned with determining how the database system will be physically implemented; using whatever hardware and software is available. Physical Implementation: The physical implementation phase of the project is concerned with actually laying out the physical data onto database servers and developing code to access the data. Review: Review is the process of assessing whether the objectives are achieved. This is the most overlooked part of a project. It takes too long, for testing, documentation, and all of the other things. This should include a mechanism to utilize user feedback, and a maintenance plan to consider how to rectify any problem identified. (Davidson 2001, p. 22) Information (Requirement) Analysis for Database Design: Based on the Project Proposal Document and interactions with the Librarian and other staff of the local library, there are a few questions that may appear, which helped the designer to identify the focus areas that is needed to be covered:- What form of data transaction will take place? Data in the form of user information, books information, reservation and tracking of books, etc. will be used through this reservation system for the library database. Who will use the data? Administrator (librarian): - who will manage the database. Users:-The types of user are students, teachers and housebound (general user). How will the data be used? The data will be used for book searches based on title, author, publication, subject, the level and duration of user’s membership, the access privileges, email notifications, reservation status, etc. These searches will be done for reservation of particular books that is required by the users. What will be the format and content of reports? The reports are generated for borrowed books and late fines by users. It will be done by the librarian and returned to the particular user. Where is the data now? At present, the data mainly resides in different systems, spreadsheets, files etc. How will the database interact with other existing systems? The data in the reservation system for the library database will interact with the data that will stay in its original format. This may include building intricate gateway connection to mainframes, linked server connections to other SQL servers or Oracle boxes, Access or other spreadsheets. V. Methodology Primary as well as secondary research will be used for "Reservation system for the Library". For primary research, academic literature and for secondary research interviews with library staff, and the librarian will be done. After this use case diagrams, data flow diagram and entity relationship diagram will be made, which will be used for the development of the reservation system. There are various methods available based on which any software can be developed, some models are the Waterfall Model, The Agile Model, The RAD Model and The Prototyping Model. I had selected Prototyping method for making Library reservation system. Therefore, initially after making database it will be tested for certain group of user as there is a turnover of 3 million users in local library. Moreover, it is not practical to test/ deploy this database initially for them. After that, I will see how useful the database is after its implementation by the number of people that use it. The description of this model is given below: The Prototyping Model: A prototype is a working model that is functionally equivalent to a component of the product. In many instances, the client only has a general view of what is expected from the software product. In such a scenario, where there is an absence of detailed information regarding the input to the system, the processing needs and the output requirements, the prototyping model may be employed. This model reflects an attempt to increase the flexibility of the development process by allowing the client to interact and experiment with a working representation of the product. The developmental process only continues once the client is satisfied with the functioning of the prototype. At that stage, the developer determines the specifications of the client’s real needs. (Pressman 2001) Advantages of Prototyping: Faster development. Easier for end users to learn/use. Fewer changes needed after implementation. Development backlog decreases. End-user involvement. Users know what to expect at implementation. User/analyst communication enhanced. User requirements easier to determine. Development costs reduced. Disadvantages of prototyping: Often clients expect that a few minor changes to the prototype will more than suffice their needs. They fail to realize that no consideration was given to the overall quality of the software in the rush to develop the prototype. The developers may lose focus on the real purpose of the prototype and compromise the quality of the product. For example, they may employ some of the inefficient algorithms or inappropriate programming languages used in developing the prototype. This mainly due to laziness and an over reliance on familiarity with seemingly easier methods. A prototype will hardly be acceptable in court in the event that the client does not agree that the developer has discharged his/her obligations. For this reason using the prototype as the software specification is normally reserved for software development within an organization. How the Prototyping Cycle Works: The prototype is a means of quickly determining the needs of the client; it is discarded once the specifications have been agreed on. The emphasis of the prototype is on representing those aspects of the software that will be visible to the client/user (e.g. input approaches and output formats). Thus, it does not matter if the prototype hardly works. Note that if the first version of the prototype does not meet the client’s needs, then it must be rapidly converted into a second version. According to Powel (2006), there are various methodologies available for designing database models. Each of these different approaches consists of a number of steps. These separate steps are interchangeable, repeatable, and iterative. The following sequence of steps to the database model design seems the most sensible and will be used for designing the reservation system for the library database along with the use of the prototype model. Requirements analysis: It is the first phase in which information about the nature of the data, features required, and any specialized needs will be covered. This will be done talking to the librarian and users to get a better idea of exactly what they need. Conceptual design: This part will be done with the help of graphical tools (for example Rational Rose.) for making Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERDs). This will be made based on data flow diagram and use case diagram that is made in analysis part of the project. Using the entity relationship diagram for the reservation system helps in the creation of tables, fields within those tables, and relationships between the tables. Logical design: Create database language commands to generate table definitions. Physical design: Adjust database language commands to alter the database model for the underlying physical attributes of tables. Tuning Phase: Tuning phase includes appropriate indexing, further normalization, or even de-normalization and security features. (Powel 2006, p.20) VI. Software/Tools and Modelling Techniques For initial logical design phase (Use case, DFD and ERD) Rational Rose software will be used. For making, a schedule of all the activities involved in the project Microsoft Project will be used. For the database reservation system, Microsoft Access will be used. It is user friendly and is widely used by students, researchers and small business uses. In below paragraphs modelling techniques and software/tools are discussed in details. UML: The Unified Modelling Language (UML) is the standard modelling language for software and systems development. The underlying premise of UML is that no one diagram can capture the different elements of a system in its entirety. Hence, UML is made up of nine diagrams that can be used to model a system at different points of time in the software life cycle of a system. These diagrams fall in various categories, mainly static, dynamic and Implementation and are given below. Static: Use Case and Class diagram. Dynamic: Object, State, Activity, Sequence and Collaboration diagram. Implementation: Component and Deployment diagram. (Chitnis, Tiwari, & Ananthamurthy 2006) Logical View: A logical view describes the abstract descriptions of a system’s parts and used to model what a system is made up of and how the parts interact with each other. The diagrams provided by UML in this view are class, object, state machine, and interaction diagrams. Process View: A process view describes the processes within the system and is helpful in visualizing what must happen within the system. This view contains activity diagrams. Development View: A development views describes how system’s parts are organized into modules and components and is very useful to manage layers within the system's architecture. This view contains package and component diagrams. Physical View: A physical view describes how the system's design, as described in the three previous views, is brought to life as a set of real-world entities. This view contains deployment diagrams. Use Case View: A use case view describes the functionality of the system being modelled from the perspective of the outside world and is needed to describe what the system is supposed to do. Rational Rose: Rational Rose3 is a visual modelling tool for UML. It comes in different versions suited to different requirements. Rational Rose also supports the designing of data models within the same environment. An interesting feature of Rational Rose is the ability to publish the UML diagrams as a set of Web pages and images. This enables the user to share and distribute their application design where the Rational Rose tool is not installed. (Chitnis, Tiwari, & Ananthamurthy 2006). Rational rose will be used for making use case diagram of reservation system of library. There are various database applications available and some of them, which are used commonly, are Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, IBM DB2, Microsoft Access and MySQL. All the database application except Microsoft Access is used for the places where requirement and number of concurrent users are very high. They all use some means of interface for interacting with database. Microsoft Access provides better options when the requirement is not more and the project is small. It also provides an interface in the form of ‘Forms’ that can be used for entering, updating and deleting data. In addition, Queries and Reports feature of Microsoft Access can also be used for specific information and report generation. MS Access: Microsoft Access allows relatively quick development. All database tables, queries, forms, and reports are stored in the database. It can be applied to small projects but scales poorly to larger projects involving multiple concurrent users. One of the benefits of Access from a developer perspective is its relative compatibility with SQL. Queries may be viewed and edited as SQL statements, and SQL statements can be used directly in Macros and VBA (Visual Basic Application) Modules to manipulate Access tables VII. Project Plan (Schedule) Various phases for Database reservation system for library Weeks 1 2 3 4 5 6 Problem Identification Information gathering and Analysis Logical and conceptual design Physical design Physical implementation Review and changes Database Implementation in library Training for proper use Figure 1: Project Plan (Gantt chart) This project can be completed in three phases which are shown in Gantt chart (Figure 1). In the initial phase the problem identification, information gathering and analysis and logical and conceptual design of the reservation system will be done. In the second phase the physical design, physical implementation and review and changes in the database will be done after interacting with the library staff of the local library. This phase will continue with first phase as the model for the development of the database is chosen as prototype model. The last phase will be database implementation in library and training to the library staff for the proper use of database system. In addition, a documentation of the reservation database system will be given to library staff. There are certain points which can affects this project plan, they are: Unfortunately, Library manager health is not in good condition therefore it was difficult to get further research from her. A prototype of database, which was made encountered Virus problem. More of the design and analysis of the reservation system will be done in later stage. VIII. Progress Against the Planned Work The progress for the reservation database system is going as per plan. The requirement analysis , scope and objectives of the project is already defined and on the basis of that various diagrams , such as use case diagram , data flow diagram and entity relationship diagram are already made. So it can be said that the initial phase of the library reservation system is already done as per the plan of the project. Some changes were also made according to input given by the library staff to the library reservation database system. It was not originally designed as planned. In addition, there were too many buttons for the user to use, therefore few buttons that are not necessary had to be eliminated and to make it easier for housebound, students to use. The color scheme was also too bright and not professional compared to other library reservation systems; therefore the color scheme too had to be changed. After the initial phase of the planed work (schedule), there was some delay in the later stages. The library manager was ill a on a few occasions, therefore it was not possible to get help from her. Furthermore, a prototype database on Access from the initial phase information was produced; however this database did not work properly when it was tested. Additionally, the computer which the information and prototype database was stored on was affected with viruses. As a result of this the database stage is not developed at this stage but will be developed in the later stages of this project. Moreover, the design and analysis of the reservation system will also be done in the later stages of the project in the final project report (FPR). IX. Evidence for the Progress Screen shots of the library reservation database system taken before and after making changes to the database systems (of forms), showing a screen shot of how the library reservation database system looked before: bright color scheme, complicated buttons, a lot of bold text. The screen shot showing the after version to what it look to be a professional library reservation database system. Also screen shots of the before and after versions of the library reservation database system given out with the questionnaires to people in the library. Most people preferred the after version. Before doing this permission was obtained from the library counter manager as to whether it was ok to do this.  Also various diagrams that are made are shown below. Use case diagram Figure 2: Use Case Diagram Data Flow Diagram (DFD) Figure 3: Data Flow Diagram (DFD) Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) Figure 4: Entity Relationship Diagram (DFD) Questionnaires: Two types of questionnaires were made, Owner’s questionnaire and Customers questionnaire shown in appendix 1. X. Current and Future Reading Lists Various books that will be used in this project will be on software engineering, UML, Database design and Microsoft Access. The list of the reading is given in reference section. XI. The Impact of the Supervised Work on the Progress of the Project Without proper guidance or supervision from lectures, it will be not possible to produce an efficient database reservation system for the library. Supervision by lecturer ensure that the research/project is going in right direction, Otherwise it can go in wrong direction or it will take more time and also it is possible to have an inferior product outcome. XII. Conclusion The library is a place used by various group of people for gaining knowledge, and reservation system for books is a part of any library and can be online or manually. This system should be useful, efficient and user-friendly and unfortunately, my local library does not have such a system, therefore the aim of this project is to provide a reservation database system. In the initial part of this PPR, database design and information analysis for the reservation system covered, in which various question related to library data was discussed. After that in methodology section various software development models discussed and the Prototyping model was selected for reservation database system. In software and modelling techniques section, UML, Rational Rose and Microsoft Access discussed. In project Plan section, a schedule for the completion of project is given, but due to certain problem and unavoidable circumstances, this will be delayed. After that progress and various evidences for project, such as DFD, ERD, Use case diagram and questionnaires presented. In conclusion, it can be said as the various analysis, methods, tools and technology discussed in this project progress report will be useful for developing a database reservation system for the library, which can be used by students, teachers and other user for search and booking of required books. This can be also useful for librarian who can track the books and users. In addition, this PPR will be helpful in making Final project Report (FPR) and documentation of the database reservation system for the library. References: Pressman, R.S. 2001. Software Engineering: A practitioner’s Approach, McGraw Hill, New York. P. 23-47. Booch, G., Rumbaugh, J. & Jacobson, I. 2001. The Unified Modeling Language User Guide, Addison Wesley, New Delhi. P. 3-33 Hamilton, K. & Miles, R. 2006. Learning UML 2.0, O'Reilly Media, Inc, USA. p. 14-36 Powel, G. 2006. Beginning Database Design, Wiley Publishing, Inc., United States of America. p20. Davidson, L. 2001. Professional SQL Server 2000 Database Design. Wrox Press Ltd., United States of America. p. 22-37, Viescas, J.L. 2004. Microsoft Office Access 2003 Inside Out , Microsoft Press, United States of America. Editor: Blanton, A. & Worthwell, A. 2004. Microsoft Office Access 2003 Step By Step, Microsoft Press, United States of America. Evjen, B., Hanselman, S., Muhammad, F., Sivakumar, S., Rader, D. 2006. Professional ASP.NET 2.0, Wiley Publishing, Inc., United States of America. Microsoft Access. Retrieved on January 1, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Access Chitnis, M., Tiwari, P. & Ananthamurthy, L. 2006. UML Tools. Retrieved on January 1, 2007 from http://www.developer.com/design/article.php/1593811 Chitnis, M., Tiwari, P. & Ananthamurthy, L. 2006. UML Overview. Retrieved on January 1, 2007 from http://www.developer.com/design/article.php/1553851 Appendix 1: Owner’s questionnaire 1. How long are you an employer at the library? 2. When did the library started to use the Talis computers? 3. Is using computer-base efficient than paper base? 4. Is the capacity for computer facilities sufficient for readers to use? 5. Do readers have difficulties with reserving books? 6. Is there enough assistance to help them? 7. How often does the library get busy? Customer’s questionnaire 1. Do you find the computer facilities useful? 2. How often do you reserve a book? 3. How many times to do you visit the library? 4. How many books do you reserve at a time? 5. Do you ask for help when needed? 6. Are the books you reserve for personal use or academic purposes? Read More