Friends of the Poway Library

A prototype redesign of the Friends of the Poway Library website, built to better serve their community.

Prototype Design-Based Research Capstone · CSH · Prototype Team: Shayan Bhatti · Arnav Pallapotu · Tanay Paranjpe
Friends of the Poway Library capstone project
Prototype
Team Shayan Bhatti · Arnav Pallapotu · Tanay Paranjpe

Friends of the Poway Library

Rebuilding the Friends of the Poway Library website to make it modern, functional, and community-facing. Our goal is to give visitors a reason to return, with a live bookstore catalog, events, and interactive games.

  • No way to browse bookstore inventory online
  • Events required visiting the county library site
  • No way to donate directly through the site
  • No games or interactive features to engage visitors
  • Full bookstore catalog with search and filtering
  • Events calendar embedded directly on the site
  • Donation flow in progress so supporters can give online
  • Six library-themed games with profiles and leaderboards
  • Clean, modern site that actually reflects the organization

Live Features

Planned Features

Coming Soon

Donation Flow

Choose a preset amount and donate directly from the site, no redirects or third-party forms.

Coming Soon

Book Scan: Remove on Sale

Scan at checkout to remove the book and sync inventory in real time.

Coming Soon

AI Chatbot

Conversational assistant to help visitors find books, events, and resources.

Coming Soon

User Persona

A personalized hub that learns your reading tastes, tracks your favorites, and tailors the site experience to you.

Stakeholder Presentation Feedback

Collected from FOPL representatives and community members at our capstone presentation.

Post-Presentation Survey — 3 Respondents · Rated out of 5
5
1 respondent "Amazing, and really worth attending."
4
2 respondents "Very interesting, and a great experience."
Favorite Features (from responses)
  • Flip tiles → linked pages
  • Volunteer application system
  • Gamification Hub
  • Used book catalog
Suggestions & Requests from Stakeholders

DVD Catalog Support

Extend the catalog to include DVDs using UPC codes as the identifier, similar to ISBN for books.

Social Media Integration

Pull Instagram posts automatically so visitors see the latest announcements without manual duplication.

Email Notifications for Admin Applications

Send an email when a volunteer application is submitted, rather than requiring a site login to check.

Games as a Gateway to Reading

Expand the gamification hub — stakeholders want more games to build curiosity before presenting books.

Future Students

Built by Boolean-Boyz (2025–2026). Here’s what the next team needs to pick it up and keep building.

Getting Started

  • Clone bb-pages (frontend) and bb-flask (backend)
  • Frontend: bundle exec jekyll serve — requires Ruby + Bundler
  • Backend: python main.py locally — deployed on AWS EC2 via Docker Compose with Nginx as a reverse proxy

How We Found Features to Build

  • Start by going through the live FOPL site page by page — note anything missing, confusing, or incomplete compared to what a real library site should offer
  • Compare their original site to ours and identify gaps that still exist — that’s your backlog

Iterate with Your Teacher

  • Don’t build for weeks in isolation — show your teacher progress every sprint and adjust direction early
  • Use live reviews to validate that what you’re building actually solves the stakeholder’s problem, not just what sounded good in planning
  • Treat teacher feedback the same as stakeholder feedback — it’s the fastest way to catch scope creep before it costs you a sprint

Re-engaging with FOPL

  • Find FOPL contacts directly through their website or by visiting the library at 13137 Poway Rd, Poway CA 92064
  • Reference the 2025–2026 Boolean-Boyz project — they know it and have opinions on what to build next
  • Top requests: DVD catalog, Instagram feed, email alerts for admin applications
Where to focus first: Walk through the live site, identify what’s still rough, and bring a prioritized list to your teacher at the start of sprint 1. The stakeholder top requests (games, email alerts, DVD catalog) are good starting points — but what you find in a real site audit may surface something more impactful.