Sharda Online Library

A centralized platform to give students everything they need for their university exams including notes, previous year questions,syllabus all at one place.

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Inspiration

The idea for Sharda Online Library came from a very real and frustrating experience. One night before an exam, I realized I didn’t even have the correct syllabus and previous year questions. I opened multiple WhatsApp groups and started scrolling. Messages were buried under months of conversations. Google Drive links were expired. Seniors had older versions of files. Some PDFs were incomplete.

I ended up spending more time searching for study material than actually studying . That’s when I understood something important: the problem was not the lack of resources. The problem was that everything was scattered and unorganized. There was no single structured platform where students could find verified academic materials in one place. That frustration became the foundation of this project.

What it does

Sharda Online Library(SOL) is centralized platform for all the resources that students need to excel in their university exams. Since, it contains well-organized resources based on program, course name, course code, year and semester, student can easily find out the resources they need.

Moreover, they can also become contributors and moderators on the platform by uploading resources and helping us in content moderation. In a nutshell, Sharda Online Library is a platform Built by the students, for the students to solve a problem that students face during their exams at Sharda University.

1.User Authentication Before contributing any material, a user must sign up and log in. This ensures that only university members can upload content as only users with Shrada University emal are allow to create an account.

  1. Structured Upload Process When uploading a document, the user must provide specific details: Title Program Course name Course Code Semester Academic year Type of resource (Notes, PYQ or Syllabus in PDF, PPT, Docs or png/jpg formats) This structured input ensures that every file is properly categorized.

  2. Content Verification (still in progress as we are learning then implementing) To maintain accuracy and prevent fake uploads, each submission goes through a review process by moderators before becoming publicly available. The system checks for: $$Rank = αD + βU + γR$$ Where D= number of downloads U= number of Upvotes R= recency factor

The the moderator also checks for, Relevance of the subject to the selected course Correct academic year Duplicate files Basic quality standards Only after verification the file appears in the library.

How we built it

The project was built using a standard web application architecture . The frontend handles user interaction, including: Login and authentication Upload forms with structured fields Search and filter functionality Search Pages for browsing resources Admin, Moderator and Contributors Dashboards for Managing the platform.

The backend manages : User authentication and role based access controls implemented using json web tokens. Metadata storage in mongodb cloud database. File storage on cloudinary. Resource Verification workflow Each uploaded document is stored along with structured metadata such as: Resource = {Subject, Semester, Unit, Year, Type, Status} Subject Semester Academic year Resource type Verification status(pending/approved/rejected) This structured approach allows efficient filtering and organized storage instead of random file dumping. An admin/moderator review panel was implemented to verify uploaded content before publishing it.

Challenges we ran into

One major challenge was maintaining authenticity . Since users can upload files, there is always a risk of incorrect or misleading content. To address this, a moderation system was added to review submissions before approval.

Similary, creating a role based access control system and integrating emailing logic was also quite challenging for us as we were doing it for the first time.

Another challenge was organizing academic content properly. Designing a clear hierarchy for subjects, semesters, and units required careful planning. The structure had to be simple for users but logically strong in the backend.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud that this idea originated from a real student problem rather than a theoretical concept. We successfully designed a structured system that transforms scattered academic resources into an organized digital library . The platform ensures: Controlled uploads Categorized storage Verified academic content Easy accessibility

Most importantly, it addresses a common issue faced by almost every student during exams not only at Sharda University but most probably at a lot of other universities as well.

We have created a pool of useful resources on Sharda online library and we shared about the platform with our friends their feedback was amazing they loved the platform .

What we learned

Through this project, we learned that solving real-world problems requires more than just writing code. It requires understanding user behavior and designing systems carefully. We learned the importance of: Planning database structure before implementation Building validation mechanisms for user-generated content Thinking from a student’s perspective Creating solutions that are simple but impactful

We also got to explore the field of ai and machine learning as we worked on integrating it in platfrom for content ranking, verification and moderation

This project taught us that small inefficiencies in daily life can turn into meaningful technological solutions when approached with the right mindset.

What's next for Sharda Online Library

We aim create a huge pool of resources on Sharda Online Library and make them easily available for students.

Educate students about the platform and create a team to manage Sharda online library. Integrate ai based automatic moderation of the platform, including automatic approval and rejection of resources uploaded by users.

$$VerificationScore = w1R + w2Q + w3D$$ Where R = Relevance score Q = Quality score D = Duplicate similarity score w1, w2, w3 = weights And approval condition: Approve if $$VerificationScore ≥ θ$$ Integrating a real time communication channel for students on the platform where students can where they can participate in discussions related to the university. and finally if the platform works well in our university, we aim to sell it to other universities as well .

Try it out here: link Test email: test@ug.sharda.ac.in Test Password: Test@123

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