Library · Circulation
Library management software: a catalogue that reconciles, a counter that keeps up
Titles and physical copies as separate things, barcode issue and return, holds and renewals, fines billed on the school invoice, and a stock check whose result you can act on.
No card required · Free migration · Live in a week
Works with
CBSE
ICSE
State boards
IB & Cambridge
Multi-campus groups
What ships in library
Counted from the software, not the brochure.2
Levels: a title, and the physical copies of it
1
Scan to issue, one to return
0
Separate fine register — fines go on the school invoice
1
Reading history per student, kept across years
The catalogue
Titles and copies are not the same thing
This is the modelling decision that decides whether a library system is usable. A school owns one title — say a particular textbook — and eleven physical copies of it, each with its own accession number, condition and location. Software that treats a book as a single row cannot tell you which copy is missing, which is damaged, or that eight are out and three are on the shelf.
- 01 One title, many copies Each copy has its own accession number, purchase date, price, condition and shelf location. Availability is a count of copies, not a yes/no flag.
- 02 Classification your librarian already uses Dewey or your own scheme, with subject, language and section — junior, senior, reference, periodicals.
- 03 Reference copies that never leave Marked non-circulating, so the counter cannot issue the only copy of the atlas.
- 04 Bulk import from your existing list An accession register in Excel imports as titles with copies, which is how a library of twelve thousand books gets in without re-keying.
Issue & return
Fast enough for a queue at the interval
A library counter has fifteen minutes at the interval and forty students. Issue is a scan of the student card and a scan of the book, with the borrowing rules — how many books, for how long, for this class — applied without the librarian having to remember them. Overdue items are visible before a student reaches the counter, not after.
- 01 Rules per member category Junior students two books for a week, seniors four for a fortnight, staff more for longer. Set once and enforced at issue.
- 02 Holds and renewals A student can reserve a title that is out and is notified when a copy returns. Renewal is refused if somebody is waiting.
- 03 Overdue seen at the counter Scanning a member shows what they already have and what is overdue, so the conversation happens once.
- 04 Lost and damaged handled properly A lost copy is written off with a charge; a damaged copy is recorded with its condition. Neither leaves the catalogue claiming to be available.
Fines & stock verification
Fines on the school invoice, and an annual stock check that finishes
Two chores that libraries usually do badly. Fines collected in a tin never reconcile with anything; here they are a fee head on the student’s invoice, paid with everything else. And stock verification — the annual count that traditionally takes a week and produces an argument — is a scanning exercise that produces a list of exactly what is missing.
- 01 Fines as a fee head Accrued per overdue day at your rate, appearing on the normal invoice with the same receipt and the same ledger entry. Waivable, with the waiver recorded.
- 02 Stock verification by scanning Scan the shelves; the system reports what it expected, what it found, and the difference — with issued copies excluded so they are not reported missing.
- 03 Write-offs with approval A missing copy is written off with a reason and an approver, which is what makes next year’s count start from a defensible number.
- 04 Reading history per student Kept across years. Useful for a librarian encouraging a reader, and for the report a school shows at an inspection.
Capabilities
Everything in the library module
Catalogue
Titles with author, publisher, edition, ISBN, subject and language, and per-copy accession records.
Copies
Accession number, purchase price, condition, shelf location and circulating status per physical copy.
Search
By title, author, subject, ISBN or accession number — the ways a librarian and a student each ask.
Issue & return
Barcode-driven, with borrowing limits and loan periods per member category.
Holds & renewals
Reserve an issued title, be notified on return, renew unless somebody is waiting.
Fines
Per-day accrual at your rate, billed on the school invoice, waivable with a record.
Stock verification
Scan-based annual count that reports expected, found and missing, excluding issued copies.
Write-offs
Lost and damaged copies retired with a reason and an approver.
Reading history
What a student has borrowed, across years, kept after promotion.
Circulation reports
Most-borrowed titles, dormant stock, overdue list and fines collected.
Staff & student members
Members come from the student and staff records — no separate membership list to maintain.
Per-campus libraries
Each campus keeps its own stock, with a group view of holdings.
In practice
From an accession register to a running library
STEP 01
Import the accession register
Send your existing register as an Excel. It imports as titles with their copies, accession numbers and prices. A library of twelve thousand books does not get typed in twice, and this is included in migration.
STEP 02
Set the borrowing rules
How many books and for how long, per member category, plus the fine rate and any grace. Set once; the counter then never has to remember them.
STEP 03
Run circulation, then verify once a year
Issue and return by scanning. At year end, the stock verification scan produces the missing list, and write-offs make next year’s opening count defensible.
Honest limits
What this module does not do
Stated here so it comes up now rather than in month three. If one of these is a hard requirement, tell us on the call and we will say plainly whether it is on the roadmap or not for us.
| You might expect | What we actually do | Status |
|---|---|---|
| A public-facing OPAC on your website | Students and staff search the catalogue when signed in. A public catalogue for anonymous visitors is not exposed | Not yet |
| E-book lending and digital rights management | Physical circulation only. Digital documents live in the document hub, without DRM | Elsewhere |
| MARC record import from a national database | Excel and CSV import. No Z39.50 or MARC21 record harvesting | Not yet |
| RFID gate security and self-issue kiosks | Barcode scanning at a staffed counter. No RFID gate integration or self-service kiosk | Not yet |
| Inter-library loan between unrelated schools | Per-campus stock within one group is visible; lending between separate customers is not | Not for us |
| Automatic cataloguing from an ISBN lookup | ISBN is stored and searchable, but bibliographic data is not fetched from an external service | Not yet |
Connected
What library is wired to
Nothing here is a separate product with an import step. These modules read and write the same student record, which is the entire point.
Student information
Members are students and staff — there is no second membership list to maintain.
Fees & finance
Fines as a head on the normal invoice, with the same receipt and ledger entry.
Inventory & store
Book purchases as procurement, with the vendor bill and the accession in step.
Communication
Hold-available and overdue notices to a student or their guardian.
Examinations
Reading history alongside results, for the report a school shows at an inspection.
Mobile app
A student checking what they have out and when it is due.
Questions
Library — questions we get asked
Something not answered here?
Can you import our accession register?
Yes, and it is part of migration rather than a paid extra. Send it as an Excel in whatever column order you keep it. It imports as titles with their individual copies, accession numbers, purchase prices and conditions — which is what makes availability a real count afterwards rather than a flag somebody maintains.
Why do you distinguish titles from copies?
Because a school owns eleven copies of one textbook, and the questions a librarian is actually asked are about copies: which one is missing, which is damaged, how many are on the shelf right now. Software that stores a book as one row cannot answer any of those, and the annual stock check is where that becomes obvious.
Do we need a barcode scanner?
It is much faster with one, and any USB barcode scanner works because it behaves as a keyboard. Without one, accession numbers can be typed. Whether to buy scanners usually depends on how long the interval queue is.
How are library fines collected?
As a fee head on the student’s normal invoice, at your per-day rate with any grace period you set. That means they are paid with the school fees, produce a receipt, and appear in the ledger — instead of accumulating in a tin that reconciles with nothing. A fine can be waived, and the waiver records who approved it.
How does the annual stock verification work?
You scan the shelves. The system compares what it expected to find against what you scanned, excludes copies that are legitimately issued, and gives you the difference as a list. Missing copies can then be written off with a reason and an approver, so the following year starts from a number you can defend.
Can a student reserve a book that is out?
Yes. They place a hold and are notified when a copy is returned. A renewal is refused while somebody is waiting, which is the rule that makes holds worth having.
Is reading history kept after a student is promoted?
Yes, across years, because it belongs to the student record rather than to a class list. A librarian encouraging a reluctant reader can see what they have actually finished, and the school has the report an inspection asks for.
Can staff borrow on different terms from students?
Yes. Borrowing limits, loan periods and fine rates are set per member category — junior students, senior students, teaching staff, non-teaching staff — and applied automatically at the counter.
Next step
Import a slice of your catalogue and issue a book
Send a few hundred rows of your accession register. We load them before the call, and you issue a real copy to a real student.
- No card required
- Your data stays yours — export any time
- Setup help included