[Fsf-friends] FROM GOA: Library Software (fwd)

[Frederick Noronha]

---------- Forwarded message ----------


Hello Sir,

I'm Shivprasad Ajgaonkar an ex-student of Goa Engineering College (computer=
) and this mail is in regards to the visit of Sir Richard Stallman to our C=
ollege.

Sir,=20

I've  coded a Library Software for GNU which I'd like to put for GPL.=20

The Software Details and requirements are as Follows.....

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SEARCH TECHNIQES

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User can give a search for Books / Journals by various options viz.

1.         Title

2.         Author / Editor

3.         Accession No / Journal No

4.         I.S.B.N / I.S.S.N.

5.         Classification No.

6.         Topic.

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User can narrow the search by selecting the Field and Class option. In whic=
h =93Field=94 refers to Branch and =93Class=94 refers to Year or Standard.

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The search tells the Availability of the book as well. This saves time of u=
ser as well as of staff at the counter. A user can give a search by topic a=
nd he gets the book details which contains that topic. It is often found th=
at users are never sure of their spellings especially of Indian authors lik=
e "BALGURUSWAMI" which can be spelled as "BALAGURUSWAMI" or "BALGURUSWAMI" =
taking this into consideration, the "SOUNDS LIKE" feature is kept so that t=
he user doesn't face any problems while searching.=20

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By SOUNDS LIKE feature, N. D. BHATT can be spelled as N. D BHAT or PROGRAMM=
ING IN C can be spelled as PROGRAMING IN SEA. Principle is that it should s=
ound like the required search, spelling doesn=92t matter. =20

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Imagine a situation where the user wants a book urgently but he finds that =
all the copies of that book are already issued to other members. On Clickin=
g on the accession no of the book, the user gets the information about the =
person to whom the book with required Title and Author is issued, so that t=
he user can contact and request for the book.=20

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DEMAND FEATURE

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Now, imagine a student staying far away from the college and is badly in ne=
ed of a book=85.. comes to college=85.. the result is book not available=85=
=2E. To reduce this, the feature of DEMANDS is introduced so that user can =
place a demand for the book sitting at home and book the copy for him and c=
ollect the same within specified date. Suppose user places a demand for a b=
ook which is not available at the counter then the user gets an AUTOMATED M=
AIL whenever the book is available.

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ADDITIONAL VITAL FEATURES

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User gets an account of books demanded by / issued to him and number of mor=
e book he can borrow / demand. Automated Mail Reminder is sent to the User =
2 days before the date of Return and Every day after the date of Return. On=
 every Member=92s Birthday an Automated mail is sent to the member wishing =
him/her =93HAPPY BIRTHDAY=94=20

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Administrator can send mail to All Members / All Student Members / All Staf=
f Members whenever required. E.g. Sending Greetings for Diwali, Sending inv=
itation for monthly staff meeting. Sending mail to all members to make them=
 aware of changed fine structure, etc.

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MENU AT THE COUNTER

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Issuing and Returning of Books can be done by scanning the barcode on the b=
ook and the Membership Card. Counter will have a menu for Issuing a book, R=
eturning of book and Payment of Fines. No member of a Library can escape fr=
om paying Fines. Whenever the member comes to return a book, Software will =
indicate that this person has to pay fine and until and unless he pays the =
fine, the book is not returned and if book is not returned fine will go on =
increasing. (Amount of fine is set by the Administrator).

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ADMINISTARTOR RIGHTS

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Add / Edit / Delete Books, Members & Journals' information. Similarly he ha=
s right to Add / Edit / Delete Section & Fields

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Administrator has Mini Address Book wherein he can store the email Address =
of publisher / supplier and send him online order for books via INTERNET. T=
he Administrator has to make an entry like Title, Author, No of Copies requ=
ired, etc. and the AUTOMATED EMAIL goes to the Suppliers giving him the det=
ails of the book.

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Software provides a script to Generate and Print Membership Card (with Barc=
ode and Members photograph and Librarian=92s Signature) and Barcodes for Bo=
oks.

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Librarian / Administrator has rights to enter/edit the college/school name,=
 Librarian=92s Name and E-MAIL ID, Set Standard Values viz. Fine Rate, Fine=
 for Loss of Card, No. of Books issued to the members, No of days a member =
can keep the book etc.

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And very important Feature is Administrator gets the log of Books issued, B=
ooks Returned, Fines Paid, etc. =93Librarian has to Show the account of all=
 the books bought during the Year.=94 Taking this into consideration the fa=
cility is kept so that librarian gets details for the books bought between =
2 specified dates.=20

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To reduce Librarian / Administrators task, two additional users viz. Member=
 & Book are added to make entry of Members and Books respectively.

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MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENT:

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SERVER :     =20

HARDWARE :          Pentium II 450MHz or above

RAM 32 MB or above

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SOFTWARE :            Linux As Operating system

Apache Web Server

                                    PhP (Scripting Language)

MySQL Database Server.

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CLIENT : =20

HARDWARE :          Pentium II 450MHz or above

RAM 32 MB or above

Barcode Scanner at Counter. (optional)

Scanner to Scan Photographs. (optional)

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                        SOFTWARE :            ANY O.S. WITH BROWSER

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WHY PHP ?

Php is new and strong scripting language works with a web server. Strong fe=
ature of Php is, it is executed at the server and sends just the HTML outpu=
t to the client thus saves the access time. Database handling thought Php i=
s simpler.

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WHY MySQL ?

MySQL is free if used with the Web-Server. And mainly because of Soundex fu=
nction of MySQL. Search results are faster. Handles Large Data.=20

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