Outer Space Bookstore

About the project

Outer Space Bookstore is a desktop application for managing a library’s book collection. It was built as a group project during my technical course, and was one of the first applications I developed for an actual user rather than as a purely academic exercise.

The problem

The school’s library still managed its collection entirely on paper. Each title and copy was recorded on index cards, making basic tasks like checking whether a book was available or how many copies existed unnecessarily slow. The system also depended on keeping the physical cards organized and intact.

The solution

We replaced the paper-based catalog with a digital inventory system. The application allowed librarians to register books, keep track of available copies, and search and browse the collection from a single interface.

Instead of manually going through a card catalog, finding a book became a simple lookup on screen.

Implementation

The application was built with Delphi for the desktop interface and MySQL for data storage. The stack matched what we were learning during the course while providing everything we needed for a focused, single-purpose library management system.