International Journal of Applied Information Systems (IJAIS) – ISSN : 2249-0868

Foundation of Computer Science FCS, New York, USA

Volume 12 – No. 2, May 2017 – www.ijais.org

A Web-based E-Library System for Tertiary Institutions

Moshood Alabi Alarape Samuel Ndifreke Edet

Department of Computer Science Department of Computer Science
Federal Polytechnic, Bida. Nigeria Federal Polytechnic, Bida. Nigeria

ABSTRACT made available to library users. The e-library system

An e-library system is a very important element of the internet developed and presented in this paper supports such an
age libraries. A library without it may face a lot of challenges approach.
like the lack of adequate visitation by the users. This paper
presents an e-library system that was developed using PHP
2. OBJECTIVES OF E-LIBRARY
programming language, HTML and CSS for design and SYSTEM IN A SCHOOL SYSTEM
MySQL as a backend database technology to run on Apache The main goal of digitalization in academic library is to
v3.21 application server and Mozilla FireFox web browser. promote library use through effective services. Local and
The system allows multimedia sources to be accessed by the international recognition and respect are partly determined by
users of the library and was able to eliminate the problems of quick accessibility to published works. Some highly
unavailiability of library resources, inadequate space, physical productive scholars globally have been found to be more
bounding and restricted access that characterized the information rich than their counterparts. This implies that
traditional library system. information adds significantly to the existing knowledge of
the users. The information resources and services available in
General Terms institutional information systems (library, archives, records
Information Systems offices, and documentation centers) are digitalized and create
databases capable of supporting research activities. The shift
Keywords from print to electronic information means that both academic
e-library system, PHP, HTML, Multimedia, MySQL staff and students in a school system must use these resources
for better quality, efficient, and effective research more than
1. INTRODUCTION ever.
A library is a collection of sources, resources, services and the
structure in which it is housed [1]. Libraries have always been Other objectives of e-libraries in school system according to
a community’s portal to information, knowledge and leisure. [4] are:
It is a community’s gateway to information from many  To speed up the systematic development of the
sources either nationally or internationally beyond the shelves means to collect, store, and organize information
of the users [2]. and knowledge in digital form, and of digital library
The existence of a library in any academic institution is an collections.
invaluable asset that is as important as the institution itself.
 To promote the economical and efficient delivery of
Libraries offer the users the opportunity to have access to
information to all parts of society
academic materials like journals, magazine, books, videos and
others that boost the knowledge scope of the users in their  To strengthen communications and collaboration
different areas of research or discipline. In fact [3] said it all between and among the research, business,
when they affirmed that effective teaching and learning government and educational communities.
cannot take place without adequate provision of library
resources.  To contribute to the lifelong learning opportunities
of all people.
The volume of materials being dealt with in the libraries are
so much that an individual may not have the financial capacity The cardinal objectives of academic libraries are designed
to acquire them – this is very true with the level of the primarily to serve their parent institutions most especially by
students of the institutions and the high cost of electronic meeting the teaching, research, and learning needs through
sources online. The advancement in Information Technology, provision of the services (conventional and digital) that can
most especially the existence of internet has brought about the lead to an increase in the productivity of their students,
globalization of resources and makes sharing of resources teachers and researchers [5].
possible irrespective of the geographical locations. This has
removed the access restriction to various resources online to a 3. REVIEW OF RELATED WORKS
great extent. Even though it is not all existing useful library The system design of an online Library Management System
materials that may be available on the internet it still provides project was presented by [6]. The system is to manage the
a seemingly large access to vast volume of resources for online borrowing and returning of books from a library to
academic use. registered members of a reading group. The system allows the
members to share books online and it contains facilities for
This suggests that a blended approach of combining the adding new books, issuing of books and returning of same
traditional system of library with that of the electronic library books. The system does no other than these.
will expand the volume of academic resources that will be

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 International Journal of Applied Information Systems (IJAIS) – ISSN : 2249-0868
Foundation of Computer Science FCS, New York, USA
Volume 12 – No. 2, May 2017 – www.ijais.org

A framework of a web-based digital library management 4. MATERIALS AND METHODS

system for institutions and colleges was presented in [7]. The Sample electronic books online on different courses being
framework was very similar to the one presented in this study offered in the polytechnic used as case study were gathered,
only that they focused on digital library instead of e-library academic videos and audio tutorials on different areas or
concept as has been the pre-occupation of this present study. discipline were also collected.
[8] presented a web-based system that provides a simple The e-library system was developed using HTML (Hypertext
interface for quick book searching, lending and mainly used Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) for the
for the common browsers, making the system migration and design, PHP – a Hypertext Preprocessor programming
usage easier. The only different between this work and our language for coding with MySQL as a back-end database
study here is the non-inclusion of the multimedia sources technology that runs on Apache v3.21 application server and
viewing and usage as done in our study. Mozilla FireFox web browser.
The work of [9] was also exactly similar to that of [8] only The block diagram in Fig. 1 shows the architecture of the
that they provided command options alternative in Arabic proposed system.
language that allow the Arab users to interact with the system.
The work was implemented on Java platform using Java 5. RESULTS OBTAINED
Applets. This study has the same difference with ours as the The newly developed software for e-library system was tested
work of [8]. using some input like e-books, audio and video tutorials
[1] designed a web-based integrated library system which was gathered and the output obtained were all according to the
able to automate most of the existing library functionalities. intended specifications.
An internet security solution was incorporated, specifically Some of the user-interfaces from the running of the system are
web-based Kaspersky 2000, which was installed on the server shown in Fig. 2 through Fig. 10.
hosting the system to protect the system from all network
threats when the system functionalities are put into use.

Source Acquisition Staff/Students

(Uploading) by the Searching Viewing Sources
Registrations by the
‘Admin’ ‘Admin’

Borrowing Books

Returning Books

Database

Fig. 1: Architecture of the proposed system

Fig.2: Staff/Student Registration page

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International Journal of Applied Information Systems (IJAIS) – ISSN : 2249-0868
Foundation of Computer Science FCS, New York, USA
Volume 12 – No. 2, May 2017 – www.ijais.org

Fig. 3 E-library system Management Page

Fig. 4: Add-Book Page

Fig. 5 E-Material Upload Page

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International Journal of Applied Information Systems (IJAIS) – ISSN : 2249-0868
Foundation of Computer Science FCS, New York, USA
Volume 12 – No. 2, May 2017 – www.ijais.org

Fig. 6 Book Search

Fig. 7 Borrowed Desk

Fig. 8: Viewing E-book

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 International Journal of Applied Information Systems (IJAIS) – ISSN : 2249-0868
Foundation of Computer Science FCS, New York, USA
Volume 12 – No. 2, May 2017 – www.ijais.org

Fig. 9 View Video

Fig. 10: Playing Audio

6. DISCUSSION In summary, the e-library is a user-friendly system which

The e-library system developed in this work, from which provides platforms for the user to carry out the following
some of the interfaces are being shown, offers a lot of activities:
functionalities. i. Borrow hardcopy materials from the library and
The system is designed to support three level of user; Admin, return it when due with the help of the ‘Admin’.
students and staff. The students and staff have to register and ii. Search for an e-material using different categories.
logged in as users before they can access the library system.
iii. View e-books in a Portable Document Format
The functionalities of the admin in the system is to register (PDF) through e-book viewer.
new users, add hard copy materials to the library based on
categories, upload e-materials (e-books, audios tutorial, video iv. Listen to audio tutorials through audio player.
tutorial, images, journals etc.) to the library based on v. Watch video tutorials of .mp4 or .ogg format using
categories, and send the outdated materials to the archive video player.
section of the library.
vi. Get a link to the original website of the resources
being searched for.

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 International Journal of Applied Information Systems (IJAIS) – ISSN : 2249-0868
Foundation of Computer Science FCS, New York, USA
Volume 12 – No. 2, May 2017 – www.ijais.org

7. CONCLUSION [3] Obaseki, T. I., Maidabino, A. A. and Makama, F. H.

The consideration for the adoption of e-library system might (2012). The Development and Challenges of Virtual
appear costly at first because of the infrastructure that needs to Library Services in Nigerian Colleges of Education.
be put in place, but what is apparent is that its adoption in Trends in Information Management (TRIM) Vol. 8,
tertiary institutions is paramount. No 1, Pp. 1 – 8.

The e-library system is a tremendous improvement on the [4] Li, X and sFurht, B. (2014). Design and Implementation
traditional library system that is prevalent in schools today of Digital Libraries. Available at www.cse.fau.edu:
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existing system, which is characterized by manual, time Practice. 2010. Available at
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8. RECOMMENDATION Udeani, H. (2015). Designing A Web- Based
This e-library system is recommended for all tertiary Digital Library Management System for
institutions for library services efficiency and effective. The Institutions and Colleges. International Journal
experimental case study used in this work does, in no way, of Innovative Science, Engineering and Technology. Vol
affect the adoption of the system by similar institutions with 2, Issue 3, Pp. 464 – 478.
standard academic libraries.
[8] Jiawei, J. (2011). Web-Based Library Management
9. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS System with PHP and MySQL. A Bachelor’s Thesis
We thank the management of the Polytechnic Library and her submitted to the Department of Information Technology
staff for providing the necessary information during data (Specialization in Network Communication Technology).
collection for the development of the proposed system. Turku University of Applied Sciences. Finland.
Available at
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