

Ask HN: Review my startup, libramatic.com - ShaneCurran

I&#x27;m looking for some feedback on our startup, http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.libramatic.com&#x2F; so we can improve our user experience and improve our product in general.
======
LarryMade2
I've written library programs previously for work... Though this is more a
personal library system which does not meed as much detail... but here are
some suggestions.

Web access is good (I don't have an iPhone... most of my friends have androids
if they have a smartphone. :)

Make the checkout ID the barcode or a barcode... So you can scan the book,
this could be different than the ISBN. Also a tool to create self-generated
barcode labels for items that don't have any barcodes (I preferred 1.75 x .5"
labels... I used TCPDF to make em, told folks to print the label sheets with
"scaling off", no printer/label alignment woes then.) With barcodes you can
enter the patron first, then rapid scan each item to check out, or when
checking in just scan in the items.

You use patron number to checkout should have a facility to search by name...
as mentioned get the checkout person's credentials once and then check out the
items till done.

Book info is sparse, if you have over 30 books you want to have some search
properties and categorization. Maybe tags so you can do searches to locate
your vampire western novels... :-) Also if you ware having friends access your
library is there some public facing url they can use to browse the owner's
library on-line?

Item location, when you get into the several hundred you should have a field
for filing location - Dewey decimal is one (though I don't like it myself)
give am a 10 or 12 character field and some ideas on how to categorize thier
library (i.e. never describe a specific location 3rd shelf, instead, say
cookbooks...)...

I would put button on checkout to temporarily adjust loan duration, most
friends might get the normal 14 days, other might need more (or less)

Checkout record/reciept, so people have a copy of what they borrowed... or so
patrons can sign that they borrowed stuff and lender could take em to small
claims if they don't return (some private collections are pretty costly).. if
you get into value, purchase/replacement cost.

A general limitless notes field for both for patrons and items would always be
welcome... (this would be only viewable by the owner, not in the public search
thing I was mentioning previously)

Patron contact info - so you can shoot of an email or call them. If email
maybe add a facility to auto-generate a past due notice.

That's it off the top of my head. Nice start.

------
josephwegner
My first thoughts:

\- It looks _really_ great. I'm not super familiar with the interfaces that
librarians have to use, but I can't imagine it looks or feels as nice as this.
When the kinks are worked out, I can definitely see this being great.

\- Upon first login, I'm REALLY confused. This first dashboard is way
overwhelming. Perhaps a tutorial on first run, or don't show the widgets
unless there's some data.

\- There should definitely be a way to import books. There may be a standard
library format, if not use CSV. Almost all libraries will already have a
system that does this. The only way you will convince them to change is if the
migration process is easy.

\- The rows in the catalog view widget seem to get big enough to fill the
widget. When you don't have many books, it looks weird. Probably better to set
these as a fixed height.

\- Make the entire row for a book clickable. The whole row gets a cursor icon,
but only clicking the text takes me to the next page.

\- Deep linking doesn't work

\- When I add a book manually, the ID doesn't seem to stick. I entered
"22222", and now I can't find that anywhere.

\- CoverSwish is really cheesy. Technology for the sake of technology.

\- There seems to be an image field on books, but I can't find where to upload
an image

\- The whole app is _really_ slow. Currently I'm hung and can't get back in. I
guess I'll end my review here.

------
wikwocket
First, don't trust us, we are hackers. It looks like you're selling to
librarians, so go ask some of them. They are generally very nice and super
awesome.

Second, consider adding a 1-line elevator pitch under your tagline. "Online
Library Management System" is a good start but it is a bit vague - library of
what? Managing how? Try to write a 1-sentence phrase, packed with specific
language, directly addressing the pain point(s) and how you are solving them.
Something like some of the text in your About/FAQ sections.

Third, the cover-swish feature is neat, but the "COVERSWISH" title is hard to
grok on first glance. Consider a plain easy-to-parse title.

Fourth, your "Detailed Book Information" section does not show very detailed
information.

Overall pretty slick, but again I am not a librarian and their worldview is
different enough from ours that I recommend you spend lots of time with them.
:)

------
angeliquew
It's a bit slow to load but the use of colour is good and layout is clean.

------
jdssdd
Looks good. Website is a bit slow though

