databases

Q:
hi,

I need to make an online library (books etc) for a project at uni. I am
having difficulty deciding on the best approach. Many people are using
flat file databases with perl cgi but I cant seem to get how they manage
to keep the individual copies of the books with he books items themselves.
That is, if you reserve a copy of a book, then surely it will either have
many copies stoed and so multiple entries show up on the search screen or
you have one record per book with just a number of available copies and
this will not reserve an individual copy.

I could use SQL but I believe this is quite hard to set up.

How would you suggest I go about it?

I would much appreciate any help you could give.

cheers ads
A:
I would recommend that you use some kind of SQL database. However the
issue is not that you use SQL or other (eg. plain text file) technique,
but ratgher the design onf the database structure: what data you store
about a book. This can include the usual fields, like author, title and so
on, but also fields that are number of copies in the library, rented
pieces.

Regards,
Peter