Automated library management system for public
libraries in the Philippines
Aldrin Padilla Obsanga and Ribert Roque Enierga
Introduction
Because of the continuous
advancements in technologies, many
organizations invest in automation to aid
in their operations. One recent factor that
causes several businesses to invest in
process automation is the Covid-19
pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic
disrupts various industries such as
manufacturing, hospitality, education,
transportation, food and beverage and
government services. The pandemic also
leads to the permanent shutdown of some
businesses. Many businesses and
organizations move to automation to
continue their operations and provide
services to their users. One of the
government services significantly
affected by the Covid-19 pandemic is the
public libraries (Rundqvist, 2020). Public
libraries are not just places for patrons to
borrow books or to access reference
materials. Libraries serve as a conduit to
access information, encourage social
inclusion and equity, foster civic
engagement and involvement, creating a
bridge to resources and to promote
economic vitality within the community
(Hancks, 2012). Due to a lack of financial
support, many students cannot afford to
buy their books or computers for their
education. Public libraries offer
books and other references and
computers for students and others in
the community to access information.
Because of the continuous operation
of the education sector through
blended learning or flexible learning,
the opening of public libraries will be
beneficial for the students who do not
have the resources to access
information (Dhawan, 2020).
Currently, public libraries in the
Philippines cannot operate as per the
guidelines imposed by the government to
avoid overcrowding of individuals (Inter-
Agency Task Force for the management
of Emerging Infectious Diseases, 2020).
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Most of the public libraries in the
Philippines are still using manual systems
in their operations (Macapagal, 2018).
Information seekers cannot access the
available references in the library without
physical visitation and try to look for the
references in the catalog. In an interview
with one of the librarians in a public
library in Metro Manila, they use the
Dewey Classification Model to
classify the books in a card catalog to
find a specific book requested by their
patron. Information systems help
many organizations survive during
this Covid-19 pandemic and before.
The development of websites and
applications makes it easier for
people to find things to buy, order
food and search for information.
Hence, if the public libraries in the
Philippines will have their own
automated library management
system, this will help in their daily
operations and help the community
access information.
Technologies needed for library
management systems
Barcode. A barcode is an Automatic
Identification Technology component
that stores real-time data. It is a series of
vertical bars that encode numbers and
letters in a format that a reader can easily
retrieve and interpret by measuring the
intensity of the reflected barcode light.
Barcode technology replaces keyboard
data entry in nearly every industry
because it is faster and more accurate.
Barcode technology is commonly used to
develop a point of sale systems.
Quick response (QR) code. A QR
code is a matrix barcode readable by
mobile devices with cameras. It can
store a lot more information such as a
uniform resource locator, a phone
number, an short messaging service
message, a V-card or any text than a
standard barcode. QR code is used in
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automated teller machines, ticketing
systems and parcel tracking systems.
Din and Fazal Fazla (2021) and
Supriyono et al. (2018) use this
technology in developing a library
management system in a private
institution in Malaysia and Indonesia,
respectively.
Radio frequency identification (RFID).
RFID (radio frequency electromagnetic
wave) technology is a type of contactless
data capture technique. As a library
management system, RFID technology
consists of several components, namely,
tags, a microcontroller, a reader and
database software (Yu, 2007). The QR
code is a good alternative because it
eliminates the need for tags and scanners,
saving a significant amount of money
(Cheng et al., 2017; Huang and Huang,
2019; Markakis et al., 2013; Satrusallya
and Wunnava, 2019; Yu, 2007) use this
technology in developing their library
management systems.
Internet of things (IoT). The IoT is a
global infrastructure that connects
operations to enable advanced
services based on existing and
evolving interoperable information and
communication technologies (Asghar
et al., 2015; Lee et al., 2017). This
technology can handle the processes
toward having a smart library; however,
this requires a lot of resources and
skills during implementation. This
technology is used by, according to Yang
et al. (2020) in developing disaster
management design for a library.
Case study
In our case study, the QR code
technology is used in implementing the
automated system. The QR code can
store patrons’ data in the membership
ID and books for quick retrieval
(Baloch et al., 2018). To develop the
system, the researchers used Hypertext
Markup Language (HTML), Cascading
10.1108/LHTN-10-2021-0072
17
 Style Sheets (CSS) and Javascript
for front end and PHP Hypertext
Preprocessor (PHP) and Structured
Query Language (SQL) for back end
and database development.
We used agile methodology in
developing the system. Agile methodology
allows for changes in the project
development requirements even after the
initial planning is completed. Specifically,
the researchers will use the iterative
modeling approach, wherein we could go
back to the initial phases as the client
reviews the system.
In the planning phase, we identify how
the system will meet the objectives of our
system and provide its role to its users. The
authors select what programming
languages and software to use for us to
develop the information system and the
website, wherein we decide to use Visual
Basic.Net, PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript,
Crystal Report for Generating Reports,
Messaging Toolkit for Generating QR
Code and Cross-platform Apache, MySQL,
PHP, and Perl (XAMPP) to provide a local
server.
We began to gather data that we
needed for the development of the
system. Some examples of this data are
the details for processing books and
managing patrons’ information like
their name, address, birthday, gender,
etc., and patron’s needs for book
reserving, borrowing and returning.
Figure 1. Context level data flow diagram of the system
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In the design phase, the authors have
to put themselves as the system used to
determine what will make the system
and website user-friendly. Visualizing
and developing the layout and choosing
of icons and color combinations are
included in this phase. The development
of database design is included as well. We
start coding the functions of the system.
The author also set up the system
architecture for the implementation of the
system before testing.
Once developed, we conducted a
survey to evaluate the information system.
The authors let the librarians and patrons
of one public library in the Philippines
use the system and make a list of
their comments and suggestions and
suggestions for improvements. Finally, any
reported bugs were determined and fixed.
Requirement analysis
Figures 1–3 show the data flow
diagram of the proposed system. The
patron must register for membership to
get a membership ID required in book
borrowing and reservation. The patron
can log in to the system with the name
and password used in the registration.
The system will aid the librarians in
processing the transactions, which
includes creating a logbook of library
patrons, book reservations and
borrowing and returning books. The
system will also generate reports
submitted to the National Library of the
Philippines.
Figure 4 shows the database design
of the proposed system and presents
how each table in the database is related
to one another. It also shows the use of
primary and foreign keys to connect the
data from one table to another and use it
on a specific function. All the attributes
of each entity were identified from
the documents given by a public library
in the Philippines. Structured Query
Language (SQL) functions were
developed using XAMPP and MySQL.
Testing and evaluation
The respondents on the evaluations
are the library staff and patrons. There are
eight significant factors used to evaluate
the system based on 25010 Software
Quality Metrics, namely, Functionality,
Reliability, Usability, Efficiency,
Maintainability, Portability, Performance,
Problems and Issues in the System.
To interpret the data, the researchers
used a Likert Scale to obtain participants’
responses to calculate the mean of the
survey questionnaire given to the
participants. Participants were asked to
specify their level of satisfaction with the
given statements. The range and
interpretation of the five-point Likert
scale table are shown below:
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 Figure 2. Level 0 data flow diagram of the system

Figure 3. Level 1 of process six data flow diagram of the system

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 Figure 4. Database design of the system

The weighted mean is used to identify Table 2 shows the result of the Table 3 shows the result of the
the response of the survey samples. The respondents’ system evaluation based on respondents’ system evaluation based on
formulaXis as follows: its features. The features that got the the Software Quality Metrics. Four out of
highest mean are Data Reliability with the six criteria got an “Excellent” rating,
x
x ¼ n where x = mean and 4.70, User interface with 4.36 and finally, namely, Portability with an average of
Performance with 4.27. The three features 4.83, next is Usability with 4.46,
n = number of respondents
X are all rated with “Excellent.” At the same
time, Account management and
Reliability with 4.13 and Functionality
with 4.10. While Maintainability had an
x = sum of scores. Performance are rated with a mean of 3.93. average of 3.86 and Efficiency with 3.86
The two features were placed with a “Very got an evaluation of “Very Satisfactory”
The survey data analyzes conducted
included: Satisfactory” rating. Overall, the system by the respondents. The evaluation result
features got a weighted mean of 4.24, got a weighted mean of 4.23, which
 Evaluation based on features. corresponding to an “Excellent” rating. corresponds to an “Excellent” rating.
 Evaluation based on International Table 2.
Organization for Standardization Respondents evaluation of the system based on features
Software Quality Metrics.
 Problems and Issues encountered Overall rating
in testing the system. The results Features 5 4 3 2 1 Total Mean Interpretation
are as follows: 1. Account management 7 14 9 0 0 30 3.93 Very satisfactory
35 56 27 0 0 118
Table 1. 2. User interface 15 11 4 0 0 30 4.36 Excellent
Likert scale 75 44 12 0 0 131
3. Data reliability 23 5 2 0 0 30 4.70 Excellent
Scale Range Verbal interpretation
115 20 6 0 0 141
5 4.01–5.00 Excellent/always 4. Security 3 22 5 0 0 30 3.93 Very satisfactory
4 3.01–4.00 Very satisfactory/often 15 88 15 0 0 122
3 2.01–3.00 Satisfactory/sometimes 5. Performance 15 8 7 0 0 30 4.27 Excellent
2 1.01–2.00 Fair/seldom 75 32 21 0 0 128
1 0.01–1.00 Poor/never Weighted mean 4.24 Excellent

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 Table 3.
Respondents evaluation of the system based on ISO software quality metrics
Criteria Overall rating
5 4 3 2 1 Total Mean Interpretation
1. Functionality – the system behaves according to its specifications 5 23 2 0 0 30 4.10 Excellent
25 92 6 0 0 122
2. Reliability – the information process by the system is reliable 12 10 8 0 0 30 4.13 Excellent
60 40 24 0 0 124
3. Usability – the processes are easy and useful 18 8 4 0 0 30 4.46 Excellent
90 32 12 0 0 134
4. Efficiency – the use of resources such as time and memory are efficient 7 12 11 0 0 30 3.86 Very satisfactory
35 48 33 0 0 116
5. Maintainability – the system can be improved and updated 7 16 7 0 0 30 4.00 Very satisfactory
35 64 21 0 0 120
6. Portability – the system is available and easy to access 25 5 0 0 0 30 4.83 Excellent
125 20 0 0 0 145
Weighted mean 4.23 Excellent

Table 4.
Respondents evaluation on the problems and issues of the system
Overall rating
Problems and issues 5 4 3 2 1 Total Mean Interpretation
1. The system does not make the processing time easy 0 0 0 7 23 30 1.23 Seldom
0 0 0 14 23 96
2. The system’s response time is slow 0 0 0 10 20 30 1.33 Seldom
0 0 0 20 20 40
3. The functions of the system are hard to understand 0 0 0 4 26 30 1.13 Seldom
0 0 0 8 26 34
4. The system is hard to use in terms of its interface and functions 0 0 0 0 30 30 1.00 Never
0 0 0 0 30 30
5. The application has too many bugs (unresponsive/ lagging/ incomplete content) 0 0 0 9 21 30 1.30 Seldom
0 0 0 18 21 39
Weighted mean 1.12 Seldom

Table 4 shows the respondents’
evaluation based on the problems and
issues they have encountered while
using the system. Based on the
evaluation, the system is not hard to use
in line with its user interface and
functions. It has the lowest occurrence
for the respondents, which means that
the system can be accessed easily. The
other remaining questions related to
problems and issues are rated as
Seldom; therefore, the weighted mean
for the evaluation is 1.12.
Conclusion
The system we reviewed makes it
easier for librarians to monitor the
books, patrons and transactions. This
case study shows that the library
management system positively
impacts the library’s environment
and should be expanded and
enhanced for future use. The
researchers recommend using other
options such as RFID and IoT, which
are emerging technologies that we
were not able to explore due to a lack
of funds for the development. We
wish to acknowledge the Parañaque
City Public Library for helping to
fund this project.
Acknowledgement
The study is funded by Parañaque
City Public Library.
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Aldrin Padilla Obsanga (adinobsanga@
gmail.com) is based at the Parañaque City
Campus, Polytechnic University of the
Philippines, Parañaque City, Philippines.
Ribert Roque Enierga (rrenierga@pup.
edu.ph) is based at the Parañaque City
Campus, Polytechnic University of the
Philippines, Parañaque City, Philippines.
Number 9 2021