I need a way to manage a collection of physical objects online. A digital library!
November 25, 2012 8:13 PM

I've been put in charge of a small catalog of games, books and other knick knacks. I need a way to catalog, store and manage the checkout of these items. Suggestions?

I previously wrote an inventory management system in PHP that did a bit of this, but the design was a wreck and it was usable by me and, uh, me. I'd like something a little more open ended.

Needs:
I need to be able to add different TYPES of items (Books, Games, Magazines etc.)

Multiple users need to be able to login and "check out" an item.

Only some users need to be able to manage the actual catalog (i.e., an admin class)

Wants:
Dispatch e-mails when an item is "overdue", automated e-mails of these sorts in general.

An ability to request items (Bonus if we can vote on them!)

An ability to add digital items for download

The project management package Podio feels close, but is also not quite intended to suit this purpose. I'm looking for other similar solutions- A simple DB with hierarchical user categories and batch jobs/processing.
posted by GilloD to Technology (4 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
You could use some kind of bug tracking or ticket management system that has equivalent features: each item in the catalog is represented by a bug or ticket and it's checked out by assigning the bug/ticket to a user.
posted by XMLicious at 8:39 PM on November 25, 2012


Delicious Library might work. You can check out items to specific people and the interface is simple. Not sure about generating emails for late items though. Perhaps there are extensions for specific features?
posted by barnone at 10:03 PM on November 25, 2012


Daneizo might be another good option. It has a number of useful features including the ability to email users with overdue items.
posted by barnone at 10:31 PM on November 25, 2012


Koha and Evergreen might be more than you require, but as open-source "integrated library systems
" (ILS) they do most of (or can be modified to do) everything you mention.
posted by GPF at 4:19 AM on November 26, 2012


« Older Which UFO documentary did I see part of?   |   Where can I find m83's Setlist? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.