E-Library Management System
SQL Database Design for University Library
Overview
A fully normalized SQL-based E-Library Management System designed to manage books, users, loans, fines, reservations, and room bookings for university libraries. The project focuses on robust relational design, business rule enforcement at the database layer, and performance optimization using advanced T-SQL features including stored procedures, triggers, and indexing strategies.
Project Goal
To design and implement a production-ready database system for university libraries that enforces complex business rules at the database layer, ensures data integrity through normalization, and optimizes performance using indexing and partitioning strategies.
Key Features
- —Normalized relational schema (up to 3NF) with EERD modeling
- —Role-based access control (Guest, Librarian, Admin)
- —Book cataloging with authors, genres, categories, and publishers
- —Loan, return, reservation, and fine management
- —Room booking and availability tracking
- —Automated alerts for returns, reservations, and fines
- —Stored procedures for user management, loans, and fine calculation
- —Triggers for status updates and historical record preservation
Technical Challenges
Normalizing complex library data up to 3NF while maintaining query performance.
Implementing multi-role access control entirely at the database layer.
Designing triggers to enforce business rules without causing circular dependencies.
Optimizing complex queries involving multiple joins across normalized tables.
Balancing strict normalization with practical performance requirements.
Key Learnings
Advanced relational database modeling and normalization techniques.
Implementing business rules at the database layer using stored procedures and triggers.
Designing scalable and maintainable SQL architectures for enterprise applications.
Performance tuning using indexing, partitioning, and selective denormalization.
Secure database access control design and audit trail implementation.
Personal Reflection
"I really should reflect on this project... One day, when I'm not too busy shipping code, I'll write something profound here. For now, just know that it was a journey, and I learned things. Many things. Definitely."
Want to Learn More About This Project?
I'm happy to discuss the technical architecture, challenges overcome, and lessons learned from this project.