tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445269723137820164.post-23807898427442603682008-01-10T09:24:00.000-08:002008-01-10T09:59:23.790-08:002008-01-10T09:59:23.790-08:00<span>What goes on in your mind when someone says Library Management System? You usually dust it off with "College project", "Oh, no! Not another" (even "fake resume"). True, designing or developing library applications is treated like a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_world_program">Hello world</a> problem for spec creation, feature breakup, OO design and development. It is a rat trap, a wheel, that someone is always reinventing.<br /><br />Why am I writing about it then?<br /><br />I discovered this wonderful feature as I was looking for a book at my <a href="http://www.ocpl.org/">local public library</a>. (See highlight below).<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_R8-Af9qmXmg/R4ZVQjPyM5I/AAAAAAAAADk/LViYEdGqxKs/s1600-h/lib.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_R8-Af9qmXmg/R4ZVQjPyM5I/AAAAAAAAADk/LViYEdGqxKs/s320/lib.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5153900566399824786" border="0" /></a><br /><br />There, amongst all the actions/searches clutter (we'll discuss the form design later) was a <span style="font-weight: bold;">"Nearby items on shelf"</span>.<br /><br />The closest one could come to actually browsing books in the library. I'm sure you have spent enough time in libraries and bookstores browsing shelves to know how valuable that is to discovering books. Translate this into online KPIs - more time spent on the site, potentially more transactions.<br /><br />The more I thought about it, the more I realize that designing (I include spec-ing) this feature isn't straightforward - it isn't a "find more in category" or "more by this author". It could be as simple as a list of next accession numbers or as complex as a recommendation engine (a virtual shelf opens up possibilities).<br /><br />So here's the Open Challenge: How would you design this feature? What would your search results show, how would you arrange the shelves and how would you handle special cases? The best idea gets a Barnes and Noble (for US residents) or a Crossword (India) gift card.<br /><br /><br /><img src="file:///C:/Users/Sowmya/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot-13.jpg" alt="" />Sowmya Karmalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09200953962645166407noreply@blogger.com