A Mash Up Home Library Management System

We present an online system to manage a home library that consist of multiple collections, such as books and CDs, using Service Oriented Architecture. Many home collections can contain hundreds and thousands of books and CDs. Managing a personal collection of such magnitude could be difficult if one were to rely on using databases or spread sheets. Entering detailed information of each item is a huge undertaking and tedious work. We present a solution to solve this complexity by building an online service to manage a home library. The online service maintains a database to record each user’s collection. The users will scan the bar code of the books and CDs. The detailed information of the items will be retrieved from Amazon.com via Amazon Associates Web Service interface and automatically entered into the database. Users are able to edit and search their items. A simple loan management functionality is provided to allow users to borrow out items. Doing so would allow them to share their collections with their friends. Compared to other commercial products for managing home libraries, our solution is a purely online service that absolves users from performing complicated installations and maintenance. The usage of Amazon.com’s Web Service to retrieve item information provides a reliable source for information retrieval. This is due to the currency of information available and the fact that Amazon.com has one of the largest catalogues of items, from books, CDs to home appliances. All these are made available via the Amazon Associates Web Service. Our system can be extended to manage other items such as prescription medications, and kitchen items. These features make the developed solution an attractive alternative to commercially developed products.