help with database design

[Bob Ralian]

Hello:

Forgive the newbie question, please. I'm pretty new to database design and I'm trying to build a database that will keep track of the renting and returning of hundreds of items. Each item can either be available or checked out throughout the calendar year. People can reserve them for a variable length of time (counted in days), and they can be reserved for dates in the future.

I would like to allow users to: 1) Select an item and see within the calendar all the dates that are available. Or 2) Select a date and see all items available on that date. Or 3) Select a date range and see all items available within that date range. And last, as administrator I would like to be able to tie any date I lookup to its corresponding transaction ID.

I don't need help with the visual presentation, and I understand how to build most of the database. I just need help with this particular aspect of the database. I have some ideas of how to accomplish this, but none of them seem elegant or efficient. I don't think this is a very unique situation, so I would think there is some standard solution that I haven't found and hasn't occurred to me.

I would appreciate any ideas, suggestions, or resources that anyone can point me to.

Thanks,

Bob