VIDEO LINK: https://streamable.com/7itdnc
Inspiration
We were frustrated with the haphazard nature of small neighborhood libraries. Community members check out books with no accountability, meaning no one known who has what books.
What it does
BYOBooks allows community members to manage the books in their neighborhood libraries. Users can upload and log what books are in their community's book box, as well as check out books. Users are also notified when a new book is added to the collection through Twilio, an easy to use automated messaging API.
How we built it
BYOBooks was built using a MERN template. Books are uploaded to a custom MongoDB database through a website built using React. This means that the user experience is quick and responsive, perfect for managing a local database of all your favorite novels. Our user interface is also straightforward and clutter-free, thanks to the use of Bootstrap for HTML and CSS elements. The Twilio messaging API was also used to notify community members when a new book was added to the local library. We also used Axios for routing and page management.
Challenges we ran into
MongoDB provided a myriad of challenges, such as developer authentication on our teammates' devices and retrieving the database URI.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are proud of the Twilio mass messaging feature, as well as the easy to use database management interface.
What we learned
We learned how to set up a project template using MERN, which provides a starting point for projects based on MongoDB, Express, React, and Node. We also learned how to manage a MongoDB database, as well as mass message users using Twilio.
What's next for BYOBooks
We hope to add user profiles to BYOBooks, allowing users to create a personalized list of their favorite books, as well as checkout books from the local library all online.
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