JoomSchool - Manage Library and Transport

Two non-academic but everyday subsystems: a small library that tracks books, racks, members and checkouts, and a transport module that records routes, vehicles, drivers and per-route fares. This article covers both.

Overview

The Library subsystem turns JoomSchool into a basic book-checkout system: who has which book, when it was issued, when it is due back. It supports a catalogue (Books), physical organisation (Racks), grouping (Categories), a member roster and individual issue records.

The Transport subsystem records the school's transport routes — typically school buses or vans. Each route has a name, a vehicle registration, a driver and a fare. Students are linked to a route on their Student profile.

Both subsystems are independent of the academic structure, but they share the same student records, so changes to a student (renaming, unpublishing) ripple through.

Prerequisites

• Students exist with class, section and roll number.
• For the Library, the recommended order is: Categories → Racks → Books → Members → Issues.
• For Transport, you only need the route, then assign students individually from the Student form.

Library

Book Categories

Components → JoomSchool → Book Categories (or via the Library admin sidebar).

The category list groups books by subject, language, age range or whatever organising principle suits your school.

To create a category:

1. Click New.
2. Fill in Category Name (required, e.g. "Science", "Fiction", "Reference").
3. Click Save & Close.

Book Racks

Components → JoomSchool → Book Racks.

A rack represents a physical shelf or cabinet in the library. Tracking the rack number alongside each book makes shelving and stocktaking much faster.

To create a rack:

1. Click New.
2. Fill in:

1. Click Save & Close.

Books

Components → JoomSchool → Books. The catalogue.

To add a book:

1. Click New.
2. Fill in:

1. Click Save & Close.

Book Members

Components → JoomSchool → Book Members. A roster of which students are library members for a given academic year.

To add a member:

1. Click New.
2. Pick:

1. The roll number is matched against the student record automatically (the form references the student via a hidden ID).
2. Click Save & Close.

You can edit a membership when a student moves up a class or starts a new academic year.

Library — Book Issues

Components → JoomSchool → Library. The actual checkout register.

To issue a book:

1. Click New.
2. Fill in:

1. Click Save & Close.

Quantity in the Books list is decremented automatically when a book is issued and incremented when it is returned (you mark the return by editing the issue and changing Accept Book to Yes once it comes back, or by trashing the issue if the book was returned cleanly and you don't need a record).

Returning a book

JoomSchool keeps things simple: there is no separate "Return" action. Either:

• Edit the issue record and update Accept Book plus an optional comment to indicate the return.
• Trash the issue record if you don't need a return-history audit trail. The book's quantity returns to the pool.

Schools that need a full audit trail should keep all issues and use status changes; schools that just need to know what's currently checked out can prune trashed records periodically.

Transport

Transport Routes

Components → JoomSchool → Transports. The full list of routes the school operates.

To add a route:

1. Click New.
2. Fill in:

1. Click Save & Close.

Assigning a student to a route

Open the student record (Components → JoomSchool → Students → click a student). On the Academic Info tab, the Transport field is a dropdown of every published route. Pick the route, save the student.

Removing a student from a route is the same: edit the student, set Transport to "Select Transport" (the empty option), save.

Updating route information

Click any route in the list view to re-open the form. Editing a route's name, fare or driver applies to every student linked to it — there is no per-student override. If your school charges different fares for different students on the same route, create separate routes.

Tips & Best Practices

• Catalogue books with ISBNs even if your school has a small library — it makes future cataloguing software migrations much easier.
• Print rack labels (just numbered tags) and stick them on the physical shelves so anyone in the library can find a book from its rack number.
• Reset memberships annually. When you promote students to the next class, also re-issue Book Member records for the new academic year. Otherwise the membership status of last year's students lingers.
• Photograph drivers. A driver photo on the route record is useful when parents call asking who picks up their child. Most schools snap a quick mobile photo on day one.
• Use distinct route names. Avoid "Bus 1, 2, 3..." — those are identical at a glance. Prefer "North Route", "South Route", "Industrial Park Route".
• Update the fare before the new academic year, so promotion picks up the new price.

Troubleshooting