BookNest: A Peer-to-Peer Book Sharing Platform

Abstract

Accessible and affordable reading resources is also an issue among many communities where costly books and the unavailability of books limit accessibility especially when it comes to learning and the spread of knowledge. To curb this vice, BookNest has been realized as the MERN stack based website where hardcover book sharing among people is promoted as a community effort. The workflow starts with the secure user authentication and is based on the role-based access, delivering secure and trusted interactions. Users can also add books to the site, upload cover picture with details and later share it with other users through lending, purchasing or selling. A borrower may request for a book right through the system, in which case an request is created in the backend where it is tracked until it is given to the borrower. To better facilitate accessibility BookNest uses distance-based filtering to help those find books close to them, and includes a view of the physical location of these books as an embedded map before taking them out. These closely related modules, on the request fulfillment, geolocation and authentication as well as book management, search and discovery, are backed by a modular architecture that divides models, controllers, services and routes. This architecture is scalable, maintainable, and provides efficient data flow of all the components. The integration of a pragmatic borrowing process with smart search and location-based capabilities is an intuitively recognizable and sustainable product that will reduce economic obstacles, and foster a culture of books sharing.