MapArc Library

Description

MapArc Library was originally created by Bob Stanley Gardner in 2026. It provides a frontend Librarian Desk and student Library profile.

Key workflows:

• Add a book manually or scan its ISBN, including the book language in the catalogue record.
• Create 1-100 physical copies in the same Add Book workflow.
• Automatically generate a permanent canonical MapArc Library Copy ID and matching QR for every physical copy.
• Immediately preview and print each newly created copy QR, or print all labels from the batch.
• Issue Book and Return Book are separate librarian tabs. Issue scans the physical-copy QR and student QR; Return needs only the physical-copy QR.
• Students verify ownership of their WordPress account email before librarian approval when email verification is enabled.
• Approved students receive a permanent Library Member ID and matching QR tied to their native WordPress user account.
• Optional automatic issue, pre-due, due-date, and overdue emails use WordPress wp_mail().
• Default loan period is 5 days.
• Bulk QR label printing can be filtered by added date, title, copy status, location, and print status.
• [commons_library_desk] provides the protected frontend librarian interface.
• [commons_library_profile] provides the frontend student profile.
• Optional MapArc Core integration is feature-detected and non-required.

An ISBN identifies a book title/edition. Lending uses the separate QR generated for each physical copy.

QR image rendering uses the copy of QRCode.js bundled with the plugin. Camera scanning uses the browser BarcodeDetector API when available. For Library QR codes on Safari/iPhone and other browsers without native QR decoding, the scanner uses the jsQR 1.4.0 compatibility fallback. Manual and hardware-scanner entry remain available.

External Services

MapArc Library does not require an external service for its catalogue, circulation, membership, reservations, QR rendering, or camera-scanning code. Email notifications are sent through the WordPress wp_mail() configuration chosen by the site owner. The plugin does not download executable JavaScript from a third-party CDN.

Privacy

MapArc Library stores Library membership details, borrowing history, reservation/token records, email-verification state, and Library staff department assignments in the WordPress database. Site administrators are responsible for configuring retention and privacy practices appropriate to their institution. Verification tokens are stored as HMAC values rather than plaintext tokens and expire after use or timeout.

Source Code and Build Process

MapArc Library ships its editable first-party PHP, JavaScript, and CSS directly in the plugin package. No build step is required to recreate those first-party assets. The bundled assets/vendor/qrcode.min.js file is third-party QRCode.js code used only for QR rendering; its provenance and license are documented in THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt.

Technical details