Design a Library Management System
A Library Management System is a software built to handle the primary housekeeping functions of a library. Libraries rely on library management systems to manage asset collections as well as relationships with their members. Library management systems help libraries keep track of the books and their checkouts, as well as members’ subscriptions and profiles.
Library management systems also involve maintaining the database for entering new books and recording books that have been borrowed with their respective due dates.
System Requirements #
We will focus on the following set of requirements while designing the Library Management System:
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Any library member should be able to search books by their title, author, subject category as well by the publication date.
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Each book will have a unique identification number and other details including a rack number which will help to physically locate the book.
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There could be more than one copy of a book, and library members should be able to check-out and reserve any copy. We will call each copy of a book, a book item.
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The system should be able to retrieve information like who took a particular book or what are the books checked-out by a specific library member.
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There should be a maximum limit (5) on how many books a member can check-out.
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There should be a maximum limit (10) on how many days a member can keep a book.
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The system should be able to collect fines for books returned after the due date.
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Members should be able to reserve books that are not currently available.
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The system should be able to send notifications whenever the reserved books become available, as well as when the book is not returned within the due date.
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Each book and member card will have a unique barcode. The system will be able to read barcodes from books and members’ library cards.
Use case diagram #
We have three main actors in our system:
- Librarian: Mainly responsible for adding and modifying books, book items, and users. The Librarian can also issue, reserve, and return book items.
- Member: All members can search the catalog, as well as check-out, reserve, renew, and return a book.
- System: Mainly responsible for sending notifications for overdue books, canceled reservations, etc.
Here are the top use cases of the Library Management System:
- Add/Remove/Edit book: To add, remove or modify a book or book item.
- Search catalog: To search books by title, author, subject or publication date.
- Register new account/cancel membership: To add a new member or cancel the membership of an existing member.
- Check-out book: To borrow a book from the library.
- Reserve book: To reserve a book which is not currently available.
- Renew a book: To reborrow an already checked-out book.
- Return a book: To return a book to the library which was issued to a member.
Class diagram #
Here are the main classes of our Library Management System:
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Library: The central part of the organization for which this software has been designed. It has attributes like ‘Name’ to distinguish it from any other libraries and ‘Address’ to describe its location.
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Book: The basic building block of the system. Every book will have ISBN, Title, Subject, Publishers, etc.
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BookItem: Any book can have multiple copies, each copy will be considered a book item in our system. Each book item will have a unique barcode.
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Account: We will have two types of accounts in the system, one will be a general member, and the other will be a librarian.
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LibraryCard: Each library user will be issued a library card, which will be used to identify users while issuing or returning books.
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BookReservation: Responsible for managing reservations against book items.
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BookLending: Manage the checking-out of book items.
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Catalog: Catalogs contain list of books sorted on certain criteria. Our system will support searching through four catalogs: Title, Author, Subject, and Publish-date.
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Fine: This class will be responsible for calculating and collecting fines from library members.
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Author: This class will encapsulate a book author.
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Rack: Books will be placed on racks. Each rack will be identified by a rack number and will have a location identifier to describe the physical location of the rack in the library.
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Notification: This class will take care of sending notifications to library members.
Activity diagrams #
Check-out a book: Any library member or librarian can perform this activity. Here are the set of steps to check-out a book:
Return a book: Any library member or librarian can perform this activity. The system will collect fines from members if they return books after the due date. Here are the steps for returning a book:
Renew a book: While renewing (re-issuing) a book, the system will check for fines and see if any other member has not reserved the same book, in that case the book item cannot be renewed. Here are the different steps for renewing a book:
Code #
Here is the code for the use cases mentioned above: 1) Check-out a book, 2) Return a book, and 3) Renew a book.
Note: This code only focuses on the design part of the use cases. Since you are not required to write a fully executable code in an interview, you can assume parts of the code to interact with the database, payment system, etc.
Enums and Constants: Here are the required enums, data types, and constants:
class BookFormat(Enum): HARDCOVER, PAPERBACK, AUDIO_BOOK, EBOOK, NEWSPAPER, MAGAZINE, JOURNAL = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 class BookStatus(Enum): AVAILABLE, RESERVED, LOANED, LOST = 1, 2, 3, 4 class ReservationStatus(Enum): WAITING, PENDING, CANCELED, NONE = 1, 2, 3, 4 class AccountStatus(Enum): ACTIVE, CLOSED, CANCELED, BLACKLISTED, NONE = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 class Address: def __init__(self, street, city, state, zip_code, country): self.__street_address = street self.__city = city self.__state = state self.__zip_code = zip_code self.__country = country class Person(ABC): def __init__(self, name, address, email, phone): self.__name = name self.__address = address self.__email = email self.__phone = phone class Constants: self.MAX_BOOKS_ISSUED_TO_A_USER = 5 self.MAX_LENDING_DAYS = 10
Account, Member, and Librarian: These classes represent various people that interact with our system:
# For simplicity, we are not defining getter and setter functions. The reader can # assume that all class attributes are private and accessed through their respective # public getter methods and modified only through their public methods function. from abc import ABC, abstractmethod class Account(ABC): def __init__(self, id, password, person, status=AccountStatus.Active): self.__id = id self.__password = password self.__status = status self.__person = person def reset_password(self): None class Librarian(Account): def __init__(self, id, password, person, status=AccountStatus.Active): super().__init__(id, password, person, status) def add_book_item(self, book_item): None def block_member(self, member): None def un_block_member(self, member): None class Member(Account): def __init__(self, id, password, person, status=AccountStatus.Active): super().__init__(id, password, person, status) self.__date_of_membership = datetime.date.today() self.__total_books_checkedout = 0 def get_total_books_checkedout(self): return self.__total_books_checkedout def reserve_book_item(self, book_item): None def increment_total_books_checkedout(self): None def renew_book_item(self, book_item): None def checkout_book_item(self, book_item): if self.get_total_books_checked_out() >= Constants.MAX_BOOKS_ISSUED_TO_A_USER: print("The user has already checked-out maximum number of books") return False book_reservation = BookReservation.fetch_reservation_details( book_item.get_barcode()) if book_reservation != None and book_reservation.get_member_id() != self.get_id(): # book item has a pending reservation from another user print("self book is reserved by another member") return False elif book_reservation != None: # book item has a pending reservation from the give member, update it book_reservation.update_status(ReservationStatus.COMPLETED) if not book_item.checkout(self.get_id()): return False self.increment_total_books_checkedout() return True def check_for_fine(self, book_item_barcode): book_lending = BookLending.fetch_lending_details(book_item_barcode) due_date = book_lending.get_due_date() today = datetime.date.today() # check if the book has been returned within the due date if today > due_date: diff = today - due_date diff_days = diff.days Fine.collect_fine(self.get_member_id(), diff_days) def return_book_item(self, book_item): self.check_for_fine(book_item.get_barcode()) book_reservation = BookReservation.fetch_reservation_details( book_item.get_barcode()) if book_reservation != None: # book item has a pending reservation book_item.update_book_item_status(BookStatus.RESERVED) book_reservation.send_book_available_notification() book_item.update_book_item_status(BookStatus.AVAILABLE) def renew_book_item(self, book_item): self.check_for_fine(book_item.get_barcode()) book_reservation = BookReservation.fetch_reservation_details( book_item.get_barcode()) # check if self book item has a pending reservation from another member if book_reservation != None and book_reservation.get_member_id() != self.get_member_id(): print("self book is reserved by another member") self.decrement_total_books_checkedout() book_item.update_book_item_state(BookStatus.RESERVED) book_reservation.send_book_available_notification() return False elif book_reservation != None: # book item has a pending reservation from self member book_reservation.update_status(ReservationStatus.COMPLETED) BookLending.lend_book(book_item.get_bar_code(), self.get_member_id()) book_item.update_due_date( datetime.datetime.now().AddDays(Constants.MAX_LENDING_DAYS)) return True
BookReservation, BookLending, and Fine: These classes represent a book reservation, lending, and fine collection, respectively.
class BookReservation: def check_for_fine(self, creation_date, status, book_item_barcode, member_id): self.__creation_date = creation_date self.__status = status self.__book_item_barcode = book_item_barcode self.__member_id = member_id def fetch_reservation_details(self, barcode): None class BookLending: def check_for_fine(self, creation_date, due_date, book_item_barcode, member_id): self.__creation_date = creation_date self.__due_date = due_date self.__return_date = None self.__book_item_barcode = book_item_barcode self.__member_id = member_id def lend_book(self, barcode, member_id): None def fetch_lending_details(self, barcode): None class Fine: def check_for_fine(self, creation_date, book_item_barcode, member_id): self.__creation_date = creation_date self.__book_item_barcode = book_item_barcode self.__member_id = member_id def collect_fine(self, member_id, days): None
BookItem: Encapsulating a book item, this class will be responsible for processing the reservation, return, and renewal of a book item.
from abc import ABC, abstractmethod class Book(ABC): def check_for_fine(self, ISBN, title, subject, publisher, language, number_of_pages): self.__ISBN = ISBN self.__title = title self.__subject = subject self.__publisher = publisher self.__language = language self.__number_of_pages = number_of_pages self.__authors = [] class BookItem(Book): def check_for_fine(self, barcode, is_reference_only, borrowed, due_date, price, book_format, status, date_of_purchase, publication_date, placed_at): self.__barcode = barcode self.__is_reference_only = is_reference_only self.__borrowed = borrowed self.__due_date = due_date self.__price = price self.__format = book_format self.__status = status self.__date_of_purchase = date_of_purchase self.__publication_date = publication_date self.__placed_at = placed_at def checkout(self, member_id): if self.get_is_reference_only(): print("self book is Reference only and can't be issued") return False if not BookLending.lend_book(self.get_bar_code(), member_id): return False self.update_book_item_status(BookStatus.LOANED) return True class Rack: def check_for_fine(self, number, location_identifier): self.__number = number self.__location_identifier = location_identifier
Search interface and Catalog: The Catalog class will implement the Search interface to facilitate searching of books.
from abc import ABC, abstractmethod class Search(ABC): def search_by_title(self, title): None def search_by_author(self, author): None def search_by_subject(self, subject): None def search_by_pub_date(self, publish_date): None class Catalog(Search): def check_for_fine(self): self.__book_titles = {} self.__book_authors = {} self.__book_subjects = {} self.__book_publication_dates = {} def search_by_title(self, query): # return all books containing the string query in their title. return self.__book_titles.get(query) def search_by_author(self, query): # return all books containing the string query in their author's name. return self.__book_authors.get(query)