Library and Book Loans OK is very user-friendly software that allows you to manage the primary needs of your library. It provides librarians with a library management system capable of maintaining the database for entering all of their books and recording books that have been borrowed with their respective due dates. The software makes available three interacting apps that will enable you to keep track of the books and their checkouts and manage relationships with the library members’ subscriptions and profiles.

The Book Database app allows you to manage the books in your library quickly and professionally. When you need to register a book loan, you can import book data from this database. You can catalogue all of the books on the shelves of your library and consult them comfortably seated in front of your computer. It will be enough to store the details of your books into the clear and simple database and then find them in the search window. Here you will be able to query the book archive by different criteria and print the summaries on paper. The book archive can be exported to an Excel file to be shared even with those who do not own Library and Book Loans OK.

The app provides a work environment with text fields in which you need to enter information about each work in your library. The individual records of the book archive can be viewed on the screen or printed on paper.

The data to indicate concern the title of the book, the author’s name, the country, the year of publication, the publisher, the city of publication, the Dewey decimal classification number, the literary genre, the ISBN code assigned to the volume, the language and the original title of the work, the translator’s name, any collection or series of which the work is part, the editor’s name, the shelf on which the book is placed, the shelf mark showing the exact position of the book in the library, the number of volumes composing the work, the format of the book, the total number of pages, the price, a critical evaluation of the work and any further notes.

The “Current loan status” text field is read-only and is automatically updated when you store a book loan or a reader’s return of a book to the library.

In each record it is possible to import a photo of the book cover in Jpeg or Bitmap format. So, you can save the cover images on the hard disk of your computer and then import them into the book database. The picture is automatically scaled to fit the size of the preview box. It is possible, however, to view the cover image in full screen by clicking on the zoom icon. Each photo can be saved to disk or deleted at any time using the appropriate buttons.

To enter the record of a new book, click on the New button, fill in the text fields, upload the photo of the cover and press Save. If you want to create a new record keeping the contents of all the text fields of an already archived record, you must press the Duplicate button, make any desired changes, additions or deletions, upload the new cover photo and click Save. This function can be useful when you have to store the different volumes that make up the same work.

The Attached Files function allows you to attach three files of any kind to each book record which could contain, for example, a digital copy of the same book in PDF format or a photo of the author.

The Find button allows you to search among the files in the book archive and retrieve the one you are interested in with a double click. It is also possible to search the book database using multiple filters at the same time. This allows you to obtain, for example, a list of all the books by an author belonging to a specific literary genre or those published by a certain publishing house.

The Slide Show button shows in sequence, at six-second intervals and in full screen, all the pictures of the book covers in the archive. Once the last picture in the archive has been viewed, the slide show starts from the beginning. To exit slide show mode, simply click anywhere on the screen.

At any time you can view the print preview of the book record by clicking on the Preview button. If you want to print the record directly on paper, just press the Print button.

The Export to Excel button allows you to export the textual data present in the book archive into a Microsoft Excel worksheet, which can be opened with any software capable of managing files in XLS format.

The Reader Database app allows you to collect the personal data and contact details of each reader of your library. The readers’ data can be imported into the book loan app to allow you to fill out your records faster.

In this app you can store the library readers’ data in detail, indicating, of each one, the name, gender, date and place of birth, home address, citizenship, Tax Number, Social Security Number, e-mail address, home and cell phone numbers, occupation, work address, Identification Card, the name of the library data entry operator who registered the reader, the Library Card Number, its date of issue and date of expiration, how the reader heard about the library, his or her subjects of interest, any feedback that the reader has expressed about the library and any further notes.

A text box allows you to keep track of any pending issues the library has with the reader. If there are no pending issues, just leave that text box blank. If you click on the button with the yellow triangle icon, you will get the complete list of pending issues existing between the library and its readers.

By using the Attach Files button you can attach documents of any kind to the record of each reader (for example, a copy of their ID card or the agreement they have signed with the library).

The software allows you to carry out advanced searches in the database. For example, you can obtain a list of all the readers in the database who are interested in specific subjects or those who learned about the library in the same way.

The individual records of the library readers can be printed on paper, while the entire database can be exported to a Microsoft Excel file.

The Book Loan Management app is the environment where you can record book loans and returns, as well as get reports on all book loans made by your library and export the list of books currently on loan to a Microsoft Excel file.

To register a new book loan, you must press the Enter book loan button and, in the window that appears, enter the information about the book and the borrower by importing it from the relative databases using the two Import data buttons. At this point, you must type the date of the loan and the date on which the reader will have to return the book. Finally, you can conclude the operation by pressing the Apply and close button.

If you wish, before pressing Apply and close, you can use the Print button to print a reminder of the book loan. After you have registered the book loan, the contents of the “Current loan status” text field for that record in the book database will automatically change to “Book out on loan”.

To register a book return, press the Enter book return button and, in the window that appears, click on Import data to view the complete list of all books out on loan. At this point, you can double-click on the book to be returned in order to recall its data, enter the return date of the book in the appropriate text box and, finally, press Apply and close. Also in this case, if you wish, you can print a book return reminder by using the Print button before pressing Apply and close. After you have registered the book return, the contents of the “Current loan status” text field for that record in the book database will automatically change to “Book available for loan”.

The Excel icon accompanied by the caption “Export list of books currently on loan” in the menu window of the Book Loan Management app allows you to view the list of all the books in the archive that have not yet been returned. If you click on the Excel icon in the new window, you will create in real time a file in XLS format containing all of the books on loan. The XLS file can be opened immediately by answering affirmatively to the question message that appears.

If you click on the magnifying glass icon with the caption “Find book loans in database”, you will be able to get detailed reports on the book loans that have been entered in the database. When you query the database, you can use one or more search keys concurrently. For example, you may get a list of all the books borrowed by a reader in a specific year, or a list of all the readers to whom a certain book has been lent. The reports you get can be printed on paper.

Access to the software is protected by a user-customizable password that can be changed as often as desired. For the first access to the software, you must use the keyword “password” (written without the quotation marks). If you forget your password, send an e-mail to the author of the software at [email protected] using the sentence “Forgot login password for Library and Book Loans OK” as a subject line. In response to your e-mail, you will receive instructions to reset your password.

In conclusion, Library and Book Loans OK is a valid tool for librarians looking for software that allows them to easily and precisely catalogue the books that fill the shelves of their libraries and quickly manage their book loans. Furthermore, the reader or scholar who does targeted research and needs to archive and retrieve the bibliography of a certain author will find in the book database a precious support which he or she will no longer be able to do without. The user will be pleasantly surprised to see how the software requires practically no learning time.