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Barcodes – Smart and Dumb

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#2

(2 pages) (NJ Version)

This is the second column in a series that will be appearing regularly. It will provide answers to questions about some of the puzzles and problems faced by librarians wading into the computer age.

Our solution is on the right: an all-purpose form that ought to work with any jobber; even if the jobber insists their form be filled out, skip over the questions you can't answer and attach a copy of our Special Note to Book Jobbers. Or use it alone; it really covers everything they need to know about the barcodes and the data.

To fill out this form, there are really just two things you need to know:

1) Your Holdings Code (sometimes called the Location Code). If your school doesn't already have one, call(609)292-6208. The New Jersey State Library will issue you a permanent 4-digit number unique to your library.

2) The Serial or Core Number Range. These are the numbers you have "blocked out" for this particular Jobber. It refers to the unique number in digits 5 through 13; there are usually 3 or 4 leading zeros in order to keep the barcode 14 digits long. It's typical for a library to "block out" their Serial Numbers something like this:

1-1,000: not used (a minor advantage in the handling of temporary items in some systems).

1,000-20,000: used for the basic collection, the actual number in your Retrospective Conversion plus 1,000 would be the top number.

20,000-23,000: sometimes blocked out as the number of "dumb" barcodes for ongoing use (see our last column).

50,000-60,000: a block of numbers assigned, for all time, to the Jobber the library uses most frequently.

60,000-70,000: a block of number assigned, for all time, to the second Jobber the library uses most frequently.

Got the idea? Don't worry about skipping over numbers. The only important thing is that we never use the same number twice (and usually the library software won't accept the same number a second time). With future orders, a Jobber should manage the numbers in their Range and pick up where they left off. You might want to monitor this.

As the ultimate clarification, you can put one of your "dumb" barcodes in the block at the end of the form.

And even if you're not automated yet, you can start using this form NOW. Assign 50,000 to 60,000 to the first Jobber, etc., keep the MARC data disks until you're ready to go, have a consistent marking on the shelf list cards for these newly added items; when you are ready to automate, it could save you thousands of dollars!

Here's our all-purpose form  

This Note is included to eliminate any possible confusion about the type of Barcodes used by this library:

This library uses the type of Barcode established by the New Jersey State Library System and in wide use elsewhere:

Symbology: Code 39 (or sometimes called 3 of 9)

MOD 10 (version of Code 39 which doesn't support characters)

Use 3 as the first digit.

Use __ __ __ __ as our Holdings or location code.

Use proper Mod 10 check digit as last character.

Deliver barcodes o separately (we'll put them on the book) - OR o you put them on, placed: outside/inside, back cover/front cover, upper/lower, right/left, vertical/horizontal (circle 5).

Deliver Data Disk: 3 1/2", DOS/Windows formatted, labeled MICROLIF.001, using USMARC /852 (1991) standard. Local Call Number should be in both 900 _a and 852 _h. Indicators in 245 field should be properly set for titles beginning with the articles "A ", "An " and "The ".