Abstract: Manual library management systems in educational institutions are characterised by operational inefficiencies, error-prone record-keeping, and inadequate access control. This paper presents the design, architecture, and quality assurance of a School Library Management System (SLMS), a RESTful web application developed with Java Spring Boot and MySQL. The system implements a comprehensive feature set including role-based access control (RBAC) with Administrator and Student roles, book catalogue management, inventory tracking, borrow/return lifecycle monitoring, and real-time reporting. The architectural design follows a four-tier layered pattern (Controller, Service, Repository, Entity), enabling clean separation of concerns and facilitating independent testing of each layer. Security is enforced through Spring Security role validation, CORS configuration, and a stateless RESTful authentication model. Quality assurance covers unit testing with JUnit and Spring Boot Test, integration testing via Postman API validation, and security testing of the RBAC mechanism. API endpoint testing confirms correct HTTP status code responses (200 OK, 201 Created) across all functional modules. The system is evaluated against scalability, maintainability, and security criteria, demonstrating that the Spring Boot ecosystem provides a production-grade platform for library digitisation. Directions for future enhancement include password hashing with BCrypt, JWT token authentication, advanced reporting, and a dedicated frontend interface.
Keywords: library management system, Spring Boot, role-based access control, RESTful API, JUnit, MySQL, Spring Security, software testing, CORS, educational software.
Title: A RESTful School Library Management System with Role-Based Access Control: Architecture, Security, and Quality Assurance Using Spring Boot and MySQL
Author: Chinonso Job, Onwe, Festus Chijioke
International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology Research
ISSN 2348-1196 (print), ISSN 2348-120X (online)
Vol. 14, Issue 2, April 2026 - June 2026
Page No: 257-264
Research Publish Journals
Website: www.researchpublish.com
Published Date: 24-June-2026
