Medad Library Portal

Overview

Medad Library Portal is a large-scale library and digital repository platform used by libraries, academic institutions and digital content providers. It brings collections, memberships, user access, e-services and discovery together in one portal.

The platform runs on a React front end and a Drupal back end, and connects to external systems such as Solr, the Medad ILS and other repository services. I worked on it for more than two and a half years as part of a cross-functional team.

The challenge

A national-scale library portal has to be secure, fast to search and easy for staff to manage. It must support different kinds of users with different access, sign people in through trusted identity services, search large collections across connected systems, and let administrators change content and layout without a developer.

My role

I worked across both layers of the platform: feature development, performance improvements and fixing complex issues in React and Drupal, in close collaboration with product, design and QA.

• Implemented two-factor authentication (2FA) across the platform.
• Built a full role-based access management system with granular permissions.
• Integrated UAE Pass so users can sign in with their national digital identity.
• Developed and improved browse and search: filters, indexing logic and the search experience.
• Worked on membership management, e-services and webform submission workflows.
• Contributed to integrations with Solr, the Medad ILS and repository services.

Technical challenges

• Security without friction. 2FA and UAE Pass had to fit into existing sign-in journeys without locking out current users.
• Granular access. Roles and permissions had to cover content, collections, memberships and admin tools without becoming hard to manage.
• Search across systems. Results come from indexed content and connected services, so filters and indexing logic must stay consistent.
• Two codebases, one product. Changes often touched both the React front end and Drupal back end and had to ship together safely.

Outcomes

The portal gained stronger account security, national-identity sign-in, fine-grained access control and a better browse and search experience. Administrators can manage content, collections, users, homepage sections and widgets directly in Drupal.

Lessons learned

• Security features succeed when they are designed around the existing user journey.
• In search, small details such as filters and indexing rules shape the whole experience.
• Long-running platforms reward careful, incremental change over big rewrites.