College Library Inventory Application

Functional Specification

Every book in the new De Anza library has a title, publisher, author, edition and type (fiction or nonfiction) and is uniquely identified by its ISBN (International Standard Book Number). All copies of nonfiction books are arranged on the shelves by Book catalog number (ex: 710.46E), while all copies of fiction books are arranged alphabetically by author / title.

There may be zero or more copies of any given book on the shelves. Any or all of them may be soft cover copies (i.e. paperbacks). Each copy of every book in the library (fiction or non-fiction) has a distinct bar code, which is "stringified" by the bar code scanner during the checkout procedure. This string uniquely identifies the copy.

A non-fiction book may or may not be a reference work (ex: expensive Art Book), but all reference books are non-fiction. There are separate shelves set aside for hard covered fiction, non-fiction and reference works, and a separate rack for all soft cover fiction.

All borrowers need a library card, which has their name on the front, and a "bar code" on the back which uniquely identifies the borrower. Every library card also has an expiration date. If the borrower does not renew the card before then, the card expires and can no longer be used to borrow anything.

Any student or teacher at De Anza with a non-expired library card may borrow (check out) copies of books. They may do so by using the scanner which sits in the lobby of the library to read the unique bar code on their library card, and the unique bar code stamped on the copy of every book they are checking out. They may also go to the front desk where the librarian will check out the material by scanning the card and book copy bar codes for them.

A copy of any book may normally be checked out for 10 days, but copies of reference books may only be checked out by teachers, and then only for 3 days. An individual copy is either checked out, unavailable for a variety of reasons, or on the library shelves. A security system prevents theft.

No borrower (student or teacher) who has a copy of an overdue book checked out, or who has outstanding fines, or who has 4 other copies checked out, may check out another copy of any book. Late fees are 25 cents per day per book, except for copies of reference books which have fines of one dollar per day.

A copy of a returned book (overdue or not) is dropped off at the Librarian's desk. When the Librarian scans it, the copy is considered "returned" and on the shelves, even though the Librarian might not get around to putting it back until later. There is no "robotic Librarian reporting exactly when this happens, or whether a borrower takes the copy off the shelf, reads a few pages, and leaves it on a table. The exact location of the "returned" copy at any given moment might be on the correct shelf, on the wrong shelf, on that table, or in the Librarian's cart on the way to being put on the shelves, but all the system knows is that from the time it is returned until the time it is next checked out, the copy is on the shelves (and available to be checked out).

College Library Inventory Application page 2

USE CASES:

This page contains the totality of what the Library System is required to do (at this time). It is not necessary to overdesign for this midterm. If your solution design supports nothing more than these use cases, it is a perfect solution.

Transactions

1. Add a new purchased copy of a book to the library's current inventory. Remove an existing copy from the inventory due to damage or loss.

2. Issue a new card to borrower Borrower pays all or part of their outstanding fines

3. A specific borrower attempts to check out a specific copy.

A specific copy is returned

4. New day

Reports

1. Overdue: For each borrower with overdue material, return

Borrower: Name, "type of borrower" and library card barcode number

For each overdue Item held by that borrower:

Title, author, bar code, date checked out, and amount currently owed

2. Inventory: For each book in the library inventory, return:

Title, author, type, ISBN #, catalog # (if applicable)

For each copy:

Status

Soft cover or not

If checked out:

Date checked out

Date due back

Amount owed (if any)

Borrower name, type and card #

Queries

1. Return all information on a borrower (see above), given the library card bar code #

2. Return all information on a copy (see above), given the copy bar code #