Library Book Reservation Web App with QR Check-In and Late-Fee Tracking

Most college libraries still run issue/return on paper registers or a bare spreadsheet: reservations are taken on phone calls, nobody knows which copy is actually on the shelf, and late-fee calculation happens only when a student happens to return a book — inconsistently and often from memory. The result is lost reservations, untracked overdue books, and fee disputes. This project replaces that workflow with a proper web system. Students browse a searchable catalog with live availability, reserve a title with a pickup date, and receive a QR check-in pass. The librarian scans the pass at the circulation desk to issue the book with an automatic 14-day due date, and the system computes late fees, blocks fresh issues until dues are cleared, and sends email reminders. It is a realistic, self-contained full-stack build — authentication, roles, CRUD, QR workflows, scheduled reminders and reporting — sized exactly for a final-year demonstration and viva.

1. A student registers and logs in; the librarian approves the account (auto-approval is a configurable option).
2. The student searches the catalog by title, author or ISBN, filters by genre and availability, and opens a book's detail page.
3. Clicking Reserve with a pickup date creates a reservation row, decrements the available-copy count, and generates a unique QR check-in pass.
4. At the circulation desk the librarian enters or scans the reservation code; the system creates an issue transaction with the due date set to 14 days ahead.
5. Every login and every return recomputes overdue days × ₹5 per book; the fee ledger updates and new issues stay blocked until dues are marked paid.
6. A scheduled job sends email reminders 2 days before the due date and daily once a book is overdue; the librarian can also trigger pending reminders manually.
7. Returns are recorded from the same scan flow; the dashboard updates reservations, loans, dues and the weekly checkout chart in real time.

Tech stack:

• PHP 8 · Laravel 11
• MySQL 8
• HTML5 · CSS3 · JavaScript
• Endroid QR Code · check-in passes
• PHPMailer · SMTP reminders
• Apache · shared-hosting ready
• Git
• phpMyAdmin

• [Searchable book catalog] Search by title, author or ISBN with genre filters, availability filters and sorting; each book shows copies, ISBN, pages and loan terms in a detail view.
• [Reservation with QR check-in pass] Reserve a book with a pickup date; the system generates a unique QR pass (reservation code) instantly for scanning at the circulation desk.
• [Desk check-in / check-out flow] The librarian enters or scans the reservation code to issue the book with an automatic 14-day due date, or records a return with the late fee computed on the spot.
• [Automatic late-fee engine] ₹5 per day per book after the due date, visible on both student and librarian screens; a built-in calculator lets students estimate dues, and returns stay on hold until the fee is marked paid.
• [Librarian dashboard] Live stats (reservations, loans, overdue, members, fees collected), a weekly checkout chart, a reservations-and-loans table with one-click check-in/return, and a member directory with dues.
• [Email reminders] Due-soon reminders 2 days before the due date and daily follow-ups once overdue, sent via SMTP, with a manual "send now" trigger on the dashboard.
• [Member management] Student and faculty records with loan history and outstanding fees per member.
• [Role-based access] Separate student portal and librarian desk behind session login; loan period and fee rate are configurable settings.

• Complete source code (Laravel + MySQL) with migrations and seed data
• Working single-file UI demo build for preview and presentation
• QR pass generation module and desk check-in/check-out flow
• Email reminder templates with scheduling setup guide
• Deployment guide for XAMPP and shared hosting (Hostinger/cPanel)
• Project report PDF (10-section abstract), PPT presentation, viva Q&A document