Libra Tools

Libra Tools is born from a desperation to streamline book acquisition process in our library. When I started my school librarian role, I never thought that collection development would take so much time—the time that we barely have.

It was one day during the summer break I got an idea to build something like lijstje.nl but for our work in the library. After sometime formulating and testing, Libra Tools was born.

Libra Tools: Behind the Scene

INITIAL CONCEPT

KEY REQUIREMENTS GATHERED

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

DEVELOPMENT PHASE 1

DEVELOPMENT PHASE 2

CURRENT CAPABILITIES

CHALLENGES

LESSON LEARNED

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Core Problem Identified

School librarians spend significant time manually tracking book information, curriculum alignments, and collection priorities. The process of researching books across multiple platforms and compiling this data into a usable format is time-consuming and prone to inconsistency.

Solution Approach

A web-based tool that combines:

• Automated book data fetching from multiple sources

• Structured data entry for educational metadata

• Local storage for privacy and offline access

• Export capabilities for institutional records and administration

Initial Concept

Essential Fields (Phase 1)

1. Basic Book Information

   • Title (required)

   • Author (required)

   • ISBN

   • Price

   • Genre/Category

   • Age Range

2. Educational Metadata

   • Curriculum subject support (18 subjects identified)

   • Key themes for cross-curricular connections

   • Priority indicators (color-coded: high/medium/low)

   • Librarian notes

3. Collection Management

   • CSV export for institutional systems (generating purchase request document)

   • Manual entry option for flexibility

Key Requirements Gathered

• No backend dependency - runs entirely client-side

• Privacy-first - all data stored locally (local storage)

• API integration - fetch book data from external sources that offers free limited API

• Statistics tracker

Technical Requirements

Phase 1 - Core Functionality (Completed)

Status: Implemented

• Built the foundational HTML/CSS/JavaScript structure with:

  • Clean UI using human-centered, inclusive design principles

  • Manual book entry form with all required fields

  • Local storage-based data persistence

  • Basic CRUD operations (Create, Read, Delete)

  • CSV export functionality

  • Responsive table view with color-coded priorities

  • Statistics tracking (total books, high priority count, curriculum coverage)

  Key Design Decisions:

  • Single-page application for simplicity

  • No external dependencies (vanilla JavaScript)

  • Curriculum subjects changed from program types (IB, IGCSE) to actual subjects (Mathematics, Science, etc.)

  • Color-coded tags for better visual organization

Development Phase 1

Phase 2: API Integration (In Progress)

Status: 🔄 Partially Implemented

Target APIs Identified:

1. Implemented:

   • Google Books API (with API key)

   • OpenLibrary API (as fallback)

   • Goodreads API

   • Amazon.com

2. Identified but Not Yet Integrated Due to High Cost:

   • Amazon.nl

   • Dutch retailers (bol.com, bruna.com)

   • Library-specific sources (SLJ.com, SLA.org.uk)

   • ISBN database

   • OCLC

Development Phase 2

• URL-based book data fetching

• Automatic form population

• ISBN extraction and validation

• Support for Amazon.com, Google Books , Goodreads, and OpenLibrary URLs

• Graceful fallback when APIs fail

• CVS download

Current Capabilites

• CORS (cross origin resource sharing) issues: many book retailer APIs cannot be accessed directly from browser

• API limitations: some sources (Amazon, Goodreads) don't offer public APIs

• Data standardization: different APIs return data in varying formats

• Inconsistency: some URL fetching work, some don’t, due to limited nature of free APIs

• Curriculum: selection could be more detailed and should be able to choose multiple subjects

• Key Themes: can’t fetch key themes. Librarian still has to put in manually when necessary

• Genre: generic. Librarian still has to put in manually when necessary. Another problem in regards of genre is that it’s a subjective task.

• Download format: considering to also have .xlxs

Challenges

• API Selection is Critical: public APIs are limited; need to carefully evaluate alternatives

• User workflow First: focus on manual entry perfection before automation

• Progressive enhancement: build core features solidly before adding complexity

• Data validation: critical for maintaining collection quality

• Local-first approach: provides privacy and offline capability, but limits collaboration

• Download format: .csv and .xlxs

Lesson Learned