Lending library

Books, the people who borrow them, each loan and what is out and when it is due back.

Download 5 KB3 tables, 1 queries, 1 reports, empty and ready for your own records.

The everyday tasks of Lending library, a step at a time. Each step names the table, form, query, report or print template to open. Every table has a form of the same name under Forms.

1. Add a book

Open the Books form from the Forms list and press New Record.
Type the Title, Author and ISBN, and the Publisher and Year if you have them.
Type where it lives in Shelf, change Copies if you hold more than one, and press Add Record.

2. Add a borrower and lend them a book

Open the Borrowers form, press New Record, type First Name, Last Name, E-mail and Phone, and press Add Record.
Open the Loans form and press New Record. Choose the book in Book and the person in Borrower.
Type today in Lent On and the return day in Due Back, such as two weeks on. Leave Returned On empty and press Add Record.

3. See what is overdue

Run the query On loan from the Queries list.
The books due back soonest are at the top; any whose Due Back is before today are overdue.
Use the Phone column to ring the borrower, or look up their e-mail on the Borrowers form.

4. Record a return

Open the Loans form and move to the loan with the Next record and Previous record arrows. The Books form at that book also lists its loans below.
Type today in Returned On and press Enter. The book drops out of the On loan query.
Put the book back on the shelf named in its Shelf field on the Books form.

5. Print the loans report

Open the report Loans by borrower from the Reports list.
Each borrower's loans are listed under their name with a count of books.
Press Print, or Save as PDF to keep a copy for the end of term.

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