Library Database Entity Relation Diagram

[mrcodealot]

This was one of these random moments where I have to keep my head busy. When I was still in university, I couldn't help but notice that a section of the library was occupied by book catalogs. These catalogs only contained information of all the publications ever published in Europe starting as early as the room could hold. I personally thought these catalogs there were wasted of space. Why not just digitize everything and leave that room to store books that people actually need to read?

So, I thought about creating a library management system. While I was designing this system, I found myself hitting several obstacles.

1. I wasn't sure about the library management system. I had no clue how the books were kept in order. (ie. what do these v2.r342 c0 v1 stand for and why weren't they using isbn to keep track of the books.)

2. I didn't know what should the requirements be. I mean, why would bother reading a hard copy of book catalog in the first place.

3. If the catalogs were digitized, would there be a copy right issue.

With these question in mind, the project was still on hold. If you were to design a system to manage these catalogs, what would you use as requirements and specifications? How would you design the Entity Relation Diagram?