[LM_NET] HIT: Where do YOU put your barcodes?

[Nicole Meintz <MeinN@COLDWATER.K12.MI.US>]

Hi again!
I had a few requests for a hit on this.  My original question was regarding 
placement of library barcodes.  I got tons of responses, so for the sake of not 
posting a encyclopedic tome, I'll summarize.

Most of you said you put the barcode on the outside of the book, either on the 
front left or the rear right, near the top, vertical/parallel with the spine.  The 
reason for this, most of you said, was to make inventory easier.  (You don't have 
to take the book completely off the shelf when you're inventorying.)  The negative 
side-- the front cover sometimes obscures the view of the title, the rear placement 
sometimes covers the summary.  Some of you were flexible with barcode placement, 
moving it as necessary so information was not obscured.

Some of you reported that you do cover the book's barcode with the library barcode, 
but that sometimes it confuses the barcode scanner.  If you cover the book's 
barcode with a plain/unprinted sticker, then put the library barcode over that, it 
makes it much easier for the scanner to read it.  The reason for this was that the 
book didn't really have a place on it that didn't have some information on it and 
since you don't use the book's barcode, why not cover it?

A few of you reported putting the barcode on the inside of the book, on the inside 
front page opposite the cover, on the back with the date due pocket.  You noted 
that it makes it harder/more tedious to do inventory, but it keeps the barcode safe 
and it forces you to examine books as they are returned and/or checked out.  (I 
personally think that's worth it- I had to throw out a mildewed Harry Potter 
yesterday.. I might have caught it had I followed this idea, and also, the books on 
the shelf -at least in this library-  need a good physical examination and check 
up.)

That's about it.  If you would like to see the specific posts, please let me know 
and I'll pull them all together.  

Thank you so much for your replies!
Have a great weekend!


Nicole Meintz, Library Media Specialist
Legg Middle School
Coldwater, MI
meinn@coldwater.k12.mi.us

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