Customer
Showroom
Searches on a tablet in the book section by title, author or category, and sees how many copies are in and which shelf to check.
About ShelfFinder
A portfolio demo
The problem
Thrift store book sections are disorganised and change every day. Customers can't tell whether a specific book is in stock or where it is, and staff have to rely on memory. A big chain's inventory system is overkill — but a notebook doesn't help a customer find anything.
Three people, three screens
Stockroom staff
Stockroom
Scans each donated book's barcode. Title, author and cover fill in automatically, then they pick a section and shelf. Each copy gets its own ID like SF-000123.
Checkout associate
Checkout
Scans the book or types its copy ID at the till. The copy is marked sold and disappears from the Showroom right away. Mistakes can be undone.
How it works
- A book arrives. Staff scan the ISBN with the tablet camera or a handheld scanner. ShelfFinder looks it up in Open Library (falling back to Google Books). Books without a barcode are typed in by hand.
- Staff choose a section and shelf label, and save. The copy gets a unique ID — handy to pencil inside the cover, since a store often has several copies of the same book.
- Customers search the Showroom. Only books with copies on the shelf are shown.
- At checkout, the copy is marked sold with a timestamp, and the Showroom updates instantly.
This demo uses about 45 sample books in one store, "Demo Thrift Store". Staff screens use the shared PIN 1234. The data model is ready for more than one store.