Features · Patrons
The catalog terminal is the phone already in their pocket.
Most school libraries cannot afford an OPAC terminal, let alone four. Bookleaf's answer is that every patron is already carrying one.
Why it matters
It removes the queue that has nothing to do with borrowing
A meaningful share of the questions at a school library desk are not transactions. They are "do you have this", "is it in", "when is mine due", and "how much do I owe". Each one interrupts whatever the librarian was doing, and none of them require a librarian.
When patrons can answer those four questions themselves, the desk goes back to being for checkout, returns and the questions that genuinely need a person.
In the app
What a patron can do
Search the catalog
By title, author, subject or ISBN, with live availability. A student can tell from their seat whether the book is on the shelf.
My books
Active borrows with a due-date countdown, per-item fines, current holds, favorites and full borrowing history — all self-service.
Place a hold
When every copy is out, the patron joins the queue themselves instead of asking the librarian to remember them.
Renew from the phone
Extend a due date without coming to the desk, up to the renewal cap set by your policy for their patron category.
Favorites and reviews
Save titles to a personal list, and rate or review books they have actually borrowed. A small thing that makes the catalog feel like the students' own.
Gate check-in
Scan the QR posted at the library door to log entry and exit — which is what produces a visitor count you can defend to administration.
Access
Signing in, and what it does not require
Patrons sign in with their ID number and a PIN. No email address, no phone number, no account on our servers — because there are no servers. The librarian registers members, and can reset a forgotten PIN.
Once signed in, the session lasts thirty days, so students are not retyping a PIN every visit. Every request the app makes carries a token issued by your own library, not just an ID number that could be guessed.
There is also an OPAC on the librarian's machine for patrons without a phone, so a student without a device is not shut out of the catalog.
Try it on your own catalog this week.
Download Bookleaf and run the full system free for 7 days — every feature, no card, no account needed. If it fits, the software license is ₱1,499, one time.