Information services represent the basis on which libraries and information centers are built, and it is the ultimate goal that they seek and work for. Therefore, libraries have sought throughout their long history to develop their services in line with the needs of their beneficiaries, and among these services is the borrowing service. This is developed due to the rapid and massive progress in the field of information and communication technologies from traditional loans to self-lending, where each beneficiary completes the loan procedures himself. The self-lending saves time and contributes to the speedy completion of the loan process. The process of involving the beneficiaries in the self-lending process is one factor that attracts them because of their sense of responsibility, which will be reflected in the increase in frequentness and borrowing rates.
This paper presents the detailed implementation of computer vision, image processing, and barcode decoding techniques used in libraries for more efficient tracking of borrowed books. The main idea of the system relies on implementing image processing, machine learning, and a database that contributes to the system’s ability to identify the barcodes of the books and log in their titles, editions, authors, borrower IDs, dates, and times. The study relied on an experimental approach to determine the extent of the ability of the proposed system to decode and detect the barcode of books and carry out the borrowing and self-return process efficiently and accurately without problems and without adhering to certain specifications for the books used.
The experimental results show that the proposed system is accurate, fast, reliable, and capable of recording borrowed books, where the accuracy of the system when capturing the barcode and performing the process of self-borrowing and/or self-returning for one book, or two books or three books reached 100%. The accuracy of capturing the barcode and performing the process of self-borrowing and/or self-returning a book in upright or horizontal positions was 100%. The accuracy of capturing the barcode and performing the process of self-borrowing and/or self-returning books in highlight, or medium light was 100%. The system was unable to capture the barcode and carry out the process of self-borrowing and/or self-returning books in low light without flashing the mobile phone at a rate of 100%. The accuracy of capturing the barcode and performing the process of self-borrowing /self-returning books in low light using the mobile flash was 100%. The accuracy of capturing colored barcodes in the dark by relying on the mobile flash and performing a self-borrowing and/or self-returning process was 100%. The accuracy of capturing a wet barcode with a layer of water on it and performing a self-borrowing/returning process was 100%. The accuracy of capturing a barcode written on it in pencil and performing the self-checkout/return process was 100%. The accuracy of capturing a barcode written on it with a pen and performing a self-borrowing/returning process was 100%. The accuracy of capturing a color-crossed-out barcode and performing a self-borrowing/returning process was 100%. The accuracy of capturing a crossed-out barcode with a pen and a layer of water and performing a self-borrowing/returning process was 100%. The accuracy of capturing a crossed-out barcode with a pen and colors together and performing a self-borrowing/returning process was 100%. The accuracy of capturing the one-dimensional barcode was 100% while the accuracy of capturing the 2D barcode was 100%. The accuracy of capturing the barcode printed on the covers of the book was 100%. The accuracy of capturing the barcode printed on an outer sheet with transparent adhesive tape was 100%. The proposed system is characterized by high accuracy, speed, and reliability in recording the materials in the library, which saves the staff time and effort. The alert system can also notify employees of any delays at exit stations, helping them to intervene quickly. The system's modular design allows for easy integration with existing library systems, without the need for additional hardware.
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