QR Based Library Management System

Abstract: Managing library resource systems manually or using expensive technologies like Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) still poses a challenge for institutions that depend on traditional or automated techniques, respectively.In this research, a proposed library management system uses student smartphones to decentralize the process of handling transactions securely and cost-effectively. The significant innovation is the use of the Secure QR Encoding Model (SQEM), where AES-256 symmetric encryption technology combined with HMAC-SHA256 signature guarantees integrity and avoids any tampering of QR codes.The application consists of three-tier layers; the mobile client layer is made up of the Android application that performs real-time QR scan operations, the API layer that is written in Node.js/Express, which manages requests for transaction purposes, and the server layer composed of MongoDB Atlas cloud database used for storing persistent data. Experimental assessment of 200 trans actions shows a 91.3% reduction in transaction time from 255 seconds to 22 seconds compared to manual methods. Moreover, the data integrity rate stands at 99.6%.The analysis reveals that the suggested library management system performs nearly as good as RFID technology but at less than 0.5% of its price.

Keywords: Library Management System, QR Code, Android Application, RESTful API, MongoDB, AES-256 Encryption, HMAC-SHA256, Secure QR Encoding Model.