How Much Does It Cost to Create a Library Management System (LMS)?

Technology advancements have been the best paradox in real-time. Technology has automated most functions around the businesses but it needs humans intervention to operate this automated software. One field that is making the most of this automation is the Education Sector.

Schools have automated a lot of regular activities and thus have increased efficiencies. Remember the times when a librarian could be found anytime in the library for issuing books, returning, or renewing a book. However, today with technological advancement, a lot has changed, and even the places with limited visitors like a library is not untouched with this progression.

Right now, the online library management system is trending, and for all the good reasons. They make library management effortlessly easy for schools, colleges, public library, and other educational institutions as well as for the students. Now, everything is managed by library management software, hence there is no paperwork or record maintenance is required. With a brilliant library management system (LMS), everything can be managed well and easily, sans any stress.

Technology advancements have been the best paradox in real-time. Technology has automated most functions around businesses, but it needs human intervention to operate this automated software. One field that is making the most of this automation is the Education Sector. Schools have automated a lot of regular activities and thus have increased efficiencies. Remember the times when a librarian could be found anytime in the library for issuing books, returning, or renewing a book?

However, today, with technological advancement, a lot has changed, and even places with limited visitors, like a library, are not untouched with this progression. Right now, the online library management system software is trending, and for all the good reasons. They make library management effortlessly easy for schools, colleges, public libraries, and other educational institutions, as well as for students. Now, everything is managed by library management software. Hence, no paperwork or record maintenance is required. With a brilliant library management system (LMS), everything can be managed well and easily, sans any stress.

What Is a Library Management System?

Structure of the online library management system software is developed to handle the primary housekeeping functionalities of a library. Today, more and more libraries are relying on these systems in order to easily manage the book collections and relationships with the members.

Do these LMS help the libraries in keeping track of books and checkouts, along with member profiles and subscriptions? Not just this, but Library Management Systems (LMS) also maintain a database that is useful to enter new books & record books borrowed by the members, with the respective submission dates.

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Thanks to the ease of library management system solution, such complicated tasks have become really easy to accomplish. Along with the ease of inventory management, there are a lot more things that make library management software the need of the hour.

The Basic Functionalities of  Library Management System

1. Overseeing Library Functions: Any LMS would be designed in a way that it checks all the basic library functions from bookkeeping to inventory management. It is significant that human intervention at times creates troubles that are problematic in managing and effective functioning of the library.

2. Manage Library Budget: When working with a Library Management System, it is important to take care of the fact that for any library it is budget that matters a lot. With a well-developed LMS, it makes it easier for people that the interesting solutions are designed in a way that earns better results.

3. Plan Your Library: It is important that the LMS you are working on has the perfect picture for a well-planned library. It would have proper segregation and interesting sections that would make finding books easier.

4. Stack Maintenance: Easy to manage the needs of the readers. With a well-maintained stack, it becomes easier for the readers to find the books that suit their needs.

It is important to have a well-maintained and advanced library management system software that helps you earn the best results.

Why is Library Management System Development the Right Move?

Needless to mention, online library management system software is great for a number of reasons. In case, you are someone who is looking to create such a system for your library, then ensure that the system is able to meet the following requirements, such as:

• LMS must be able to read the barcodes from books & members.
• Using the benefits of the library management system software, any library member must be able to search the books by their author, publication date, title, and subject category.
• A book may have more than one copy, and library members must be able to checkout as well as reserve any copy.
• The system should be able to find a book by a unique identification number that each book has. The other detail that can be used to locate a book, is the rack number. The LMS should be able to collect fines for books that were returned post-due date.
• The best library automation software must be able to retrieve information such as, who took a specific book or what books have been checked out by a particular library member.
• The LMS must have a maximum limit on a number of books that can be checked out by a member.
• Library Members should be able to reserve the books that are not available currently.
• Taking advantages of online library management system software, readers can reserve the books they wish to read in the near future.
• LMS must be able to send out the notifications to the members for the books reserved by them, are available, and also when a book has not been returned during the due date.

As with time, we have digitized the library management program has seen the light of the day. It is crucial to decide if you want to continue with technologically advanced services or traditional services that can help you get the best results.

If you aren’t sure how to make a library management system software all you need to do is hire the right mobile app development team that can make things easier for you.

How to Use a Library Management App?

As of now, the library management system is trending in the arena of library management. These systems combine various activities of the library into this one integrated system, and this way it enables library staff to execute all of their functions online. Its functionalities may consist of simple housekeeping activities, such as acquisition, interlibrary loan activities, and cataloging to the user services.

Basically, for a library management system software development, three main elements are required, i.e. software, hardware, and users. A network is, computer using a specific program that facilitates the technical functions of the library. Like, one of them is electronic cataloging. LMS allows library users to electronically trace required books sans having to go through the shelves. It further simplifies the lending procedure by maintaining the records of lent items and information of borrowers. The online library management system design also supports other administrative tasks like data processing and inventory.

When talking about the functioning of library management apps, it is important that you make sure there is not a lot going. You need to add interesting features to make your product the top library automation software.

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Essential Features of a Library Management System

When talking about the library management system, there are a lot of things that are to be taken into consideration. Here are a few features that would make your LMS app stand out from the crowd. Before we talk about the features, let’s talk about the main panels of the system here.

Here, the system consists of three main panels, they are:

Librarian- This one is responsible to add & modify book items, books & users. Librarian also issues, returns, and reserves the book items. The best school library management system software offers ease to librarians for better efficiency.

Member- Here, all of the members can search the catalog, and also check out, renew, reserve & return books. The reader here can use the advantages of the library management system software for better reading and learning experience.

System- This panel is responsible to send out notifications in regard to overdue books, canceled reservations, and a lot more.

Now the Common Features of an LMS Include

Add/Edit/Remove Books- Here, the books or book items can be added, removed, or modified as per the requirements.

Search Catalogue- This is for searching the books by their author, title, publication date, or subject.

Registration of new accounts & cancel memberships- This is for adding new members or canceling memberships of existing members.

Check-out Books- This feature is useful for borrowing books from the library.

Reserve Books- This feature is useful for reserving the books that are currently unavailable.

Book Renewal- In order to re-borrow the checked-out books, these features are useful.

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Return Books- This is for returning books, which were issued by the members, to the library.

Library- This main system has attributes such as a Name to distinguish it from the other libraries and an Address that describes its location.

Book- It is this basic building block of LMS where every book has Title, ISBN, Publishers, Subject, etc.

Book Items- The books may have many copies, and in the LMS, all of the copies would be considered a book item.

Account- Here are two account types, first is for general members and others for a librarian.

Library Card- Here, each of the library users is issued a library card, which is then used for identifying users as the issue of returning the books.

Book Reservation- This feature manages the reservations made against a book item.

Book Lending- This functionality is responsible for managing the checking-out of the book items.

Catalog- Here, the system supports searching via four catalogs: Author, Subject, Title, and publishing date catalogs.

Fine- This feature is to calculate & collect fines from the library members in case of late submission of books or any loss of book items.

Author- This part of the app displays the book authors’ names.

Rack- Usually, the books are placed on the racks, so each of the racks is identified by a rack no. and it will be having a location identifier for describing the rack’s physical location in the library.

Notification- Here, this class is responsible for sending out notifications to the members.

Checking out a Book- This activity can be easily performed by any of the library members or a librarian. It involves a few steps for checking out books.

Return Books- This activity can be performed easily by any of the library members or the librarian. Here, the system collects the fines from the members in case the books are returned post due date.

Book Renewal- As the system renews a book, it checks for fines and also looks if the same book has not been reserved by any other library members (as in that case, the books can’t be renewed).

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Additional Features & Functionalities of a Library Management System

Barcode Scanner- This functionality comes useful to scan the barcodes of each book or a magazine.

Circulation Management- Library Circulation or Library lending consists of activities involving the library book lending. The Circulation Management functionality is clear, and it provides all of the vital information at just the press of a key.

OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue)- This functionality is for connecting & exchanging the information with LMS. It wonderfully connects with a network of libraries. Basically, an OPAC is an online database of all resources within the library. OPAC can be searched for locating books within the library, as it lists the number of book items, which are in the library or checked-out ones, and their call numbers.

Reserve Shelf Management- This feature assists librarians to create a reserve shelf to add upcoming books to it.

Self-check-in/Check-out- Here, this feature allows the library members to do the check-in and check-out of books on their own, by making an entry in the system.

Catalog Management- This functionality is to manage the book catalogs.

Barcoding/RFIB- Integration of this functionality allows us to scan the barcodes, thus allowing the easy search.

Fee Collection- This functionality is responsible to collect the fee for the checked-out books from the library members.

Search Functionality- This feature allows for easy search for the book or book items by the librarian or library members.

Serials Management- This allows us to manage the books by their serial numbers.

Payment gateway- Here, the payment gateways are integrated to ease the online payment via Credit/Debit Cards, Braintree, PayPal& Stripe. This is also useful to pay the fine online.

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CMS Integration- The Content Management System allows the management of the app content.

Calculator- The Calculator API is integrated to automatically calculate the fine when books are submitted back post the due date.

User-friendly interface- This allows the users to use the system easily and without any hassle.

Fast access to Database- This functionality saves time with instant access and smooths the entire process of library management.

Quick transaction- With multiple payment gateway integrations, users can make easy and instant payments sans any hassle.

Social Networking Integration- By integrating the social media networks in the system, user engagement can be enhanced.

Multi-language- Integrating the multi-language feature makes the whole process easier as then users can interact with the system in any of the available languages they are comfortable with.

Planner & Schedule- This functionality allows us to manage the processes of LMS pretty easily.

24×7 Online Access- The feature can be accessed pretty easily at any time of the day.

Book Claim/Reservations- The feature allows us to manage the book reservations efficiently.

Review- By integrating a review system within the app, users can review the system, and library managers can learn about the user experience.

These features make your library management system software interesting and engaging. These would help you build software that stands ahead of the crowd.

Why Build a Library Management System?

Deciding to build a library management system is quite a difficult decision to make. There are many advantages of a Library Management System, and below we have mentioned a few of them:

• The LMS’s main aim is allowing people to easily access their library accounts, whether to check their desires book availability in the library or to re-issue a book item.
• The system allows users & library administrators to easily access the system via their smartphones as well, other than the computers.
• Users can suggest their desired books to the librarians, in case it is not presently available in the library.
• The traditional computers present in the Library can be easily replaced with smart devices like mobile phones and tablets as it saves the capital investment.
• The LMS allows for low-cost easy implementation.
• The system doesn’t require any investment in regards to the server, internet speed, or networking.
• It enables easy implementation, without any training needed.
• Enables easy and instant access to the members once they upload the library data in the M-OPAC cloud.
• The system can be easily integrated into any type of library size. Like, it works best for schools, colleges, universities, government, autonomous & private libraries.
• The entire Library Management System is cloud-based; hence it does require any maintenance.
• The system is platform-independent, where it extracts data from the library system, prepares in Excel, and then regularly uploads.

With such advantages available round the clock, it becomes easier for the users to use the library services. The library management software service providers make sure that your solutions get you maximum popularity in no time.

Which platforms does the system work on?

A Library Management System (LMS) works amazingly on various platforms, be it iOS, Android as well as web. Thus, the user of any platform category can use the system and access it easily.

Monetization Model of a Online Library Management System

There are three ways in which a Library Management System makes money, they are:

Advertising: In this model, the app makes money by featuring advertisements in the system for the third-parties.
Paid Listing: This revenue model is used by the Library administration for the LMS system for Paid Inclusion & Paid placement.

Technology Stack

The technology stack used for the development of a reliable and highly valued library management software system is listed below.

• Push Notifications- Twilio, Push.io
• SMS, Voice, & Phone Verification- Nexmo, Twilio
• Payments- Braintree & PayPal, Stripe, EWallets
• For Powerful Programming- GWT
• For Data Management- Datastax
• For everything related to emails- Mandrill
• Universal Operating System- Debian
• Database – MongoDB, HBase, Cassandra, Postgres, MailChimp Integration
• Cloud Environment – AWS
• Cloud Storage- For this, cloud storage services like Google Cloud Storage, Azure & Amazon S3 can be used.
• Real-time Analytics- Apache Flink, Spark Streaming, Azure Stream Analytics

The team at Octal IT Solution, is technically advanced and offers solutions that are highly rewarding. If you want to get to the top of the game, hire our on demand app development team and see the magic of technology transform your business.

Development Team Structure for a Reliable Library Management Software

To create a Library Management System for your library, you would require hiring a good library management app development company that with the help of its skilled and experienced team members will create a great library management system for your library. While hiring a firm for its iOS mobile app development services, you must ensure that its development team consists of great personnel and includes:

• Project Manager- He is an expert professional who managed the entire development process of an library management app project.
• Android/iOS Developers- They might consist of a set of Android app developers and iOS app developers (in case you are keen to develop the app for both platforms).
• UX/UI Designer- These are responsible for the look and feel of this online library management system. A nicely-designed library management system enhances user engagement and user interaction with the system.
• Backend Developer- These are responsible for the development of the backend system of the library management app.
• Database Experts- The library management app’s database is managed by these experts.
• QA Experts- To ensure the app is bug-free and works smoothly, one requires Quality Analysis experts who check the entire library management app for any bugs or errors, and only once they are fully satisfied with the app’s performance, they allow its delivery to the clients.
• Delivery Manager- This person is responsible for the delivery of the library management app to the clients.

We follow agile methodology for the development purpose and ensure that your business solution is developed in a way that it brings lots of reliable customers.

How much does it cost to create a Library Management System?

There are several factors that need to be considered to decide on the development cost of a Library Management System App.

App Size: The size of an app depends on a number of factors, such as the number of features added to the app, how advanced features that you add, more devices the app is designed for, number of app platforms you choose to develop the app on, and also the third-party integrations. The more these will be, the more would be the cost of the app.

Mainly it is the mobile app size on which the mobile app development cost depends on as the app size defines the time needed to develop an app, but the rate of developers is also a contributing factor. Like, the development rate per hour for US-Based, UK-Based, and Europe-based developers is a lot higher when compared to the Indian-based app developers and development companies.

Once, all of the above-mentioned factors are considered, we can say the actual library management app development cost will range between $25000-$35000, while if you choose to integrate advanced features or develop the app for more platforms, then the cost would automatically increase.

Final Words!

Working on a reliable online library management system needs effort and research. If you want to enter the market with a reliable system, then you would need to make sure that you study your competition well. It is important to be prepared with a feature list that is innovative and unique. We offer technically advanced solutions that are future-ready. With highly scalable and reliable services, we make sure that your product doesn’t fall short of anything.

Add to the pleasures of reading with an automated library management system developed by the experts.

Frequently Asked Questions