BARCODE-BASED LIBRARY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
IN A TECHNOLOGICAL COLLEGE
A Research Presented to
THE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGICAL SCIENCES – CEBU
N. Bacalso Ave., Sambag 1, Cebu City
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements of the Degree
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
By:
Cellen Boston
Oneal Caballes
Rhowela Castanares
Danejon Silva
Zyke Villanueva
March 20, 2020
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE
Rationale
Libraries share a fundamental role in the educational industry. It
is considered the brain of any educational institute. Today, institutes
such as schools understand the importance of the library, especially
with the increasing educational standards. Alongside the continued
advancement of technology and development of digital content, it
becomes more important to manage the educational information
catalog with a scalable and reliable library management system that
supports the general requirements of the library. A reliable library
management system provides full resolution for students, librarians
and faculty members. Library Management systems help in
maintaining data of books issued to learners and books available in the
library. This helps librarians to spot any particular book at any given
time in the library. Barcodes ensure quick and complete operation and
categorize books by genre. With the help of such a system, it is easy
to keep up-to-date on published books from the student's point of view
and to assist in mapping available books.
(https://www.academiaerp.com/importance-of-library-management-
system-in-education-industry/)
In Harvard, their library management system called “Hollis”
provides ease-of-access to the school’s library catalog and is
interconnected with the several libraries owned by Harvard. You may
browse through the library’s resources in a single unified search,
including books, articles, media and more. Hollis also manages
student’s library loans, they can log in to renew items, check due dates
and more as well. (https://library.harvard.edu/services-tools/hollis)
In UP, they have their Integrated Library System (iLib), a web-
based integrated library system using Open Source technologies to
cater to the specific needs of Diliman’s 33-unit libraries. As compared
with previous library systems implemented in the different library
units, this system integrates all library processes, is portable and
configurable, accessible anytime and anywhere, more reliable and
secure, more manageable, less data redundancy and more
consistent, more user-friendly and can be remotely managed.
(https://www.mainlib.upd.edu.ph/?q=cds-isis-ilib)
Even one of the local schools here in Cebu, the University of
San Carlos has Online Public Access Catalog or more commonly
known as OPAC. Made available for both the school and outsiders,
OPAC does not come short in providing a reliable management
system for the entire school. Having similar features to Harvard’s
Hollis, OPAC’s ease of access, digitally integrated search catalog,
modernized book borrowing, and its ability to let students access it
anywhere in or off campus for renewal or overdues. OPAC also
integrates hardware into its overall system such as barcode readers
and RFID scanners. (https://www.facebook.com/usclibrarysystem)
Here in the College of Technological Sciences – Cebu, a
genericly bought Library Managements Systems exists, however it is
not integrated well into the school’s overall system nor website and is
only accessible by the Library Administrator. Furthermore, students
cannot browse through the system’s catalog to search for books and
authors nor which section of the library they can be. This comes as a
real braw-back both for students and staff alike.
Having this scenario at hand, the researchers find the need to
conduct a study regarding the major key and even minor benefits of a
barcode-based library management system. We are living in the
digital era and it only makes sense that our original source of reliable
and factual knowledge and information must also adapt to the
currently changing times.
Whether big or small, a library must provide means for reader
or in this case students to be able to search through the library’s
catalog. Pinpointing specific titles, authors, and even genres would
make the life any reader a whole lot easier, on top of that the specific
location of the book or books should be known by readers browsing
through the search catalog. As researchers of this study, we
rummaged around dozens of books but found only one that we could
use as reference for our research. This was most likely due to not
having the convenience and ability to search through the library’s
catalog because our current system does not have such capabilities.
On the other side of the spectrum, the school’s librarian uses excel as
means of managing books due to the current generic bought system
needs internet connection because it must constantly access the
server situated at the school’s MIS for that is where the database for
the system is located.
The system we aim to develop a system that will provide
browsing capabilities through the library’s catalog for both students
and staff. Since it is barcode-based, it is rest assured that the
management of and even the borrowing and returning of books will
be more convenient and reliable because no room for error upon the
input of books will be made. Hence, the improvement of the digitized
management of books in our library or in any library is an absolute
must.
