[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Bar Code Readers, ISBN, and Amazon

[G. T. Stresen-Reuter]

On Mar 16, 2012, at 11:26 AM, Hardy, Elaine wrote:

> You can do direct entry, which would have the advantage for your student
> workers of taking longer.

And it will also help them develop their touch-typing skills, something they need constant work on.

> However, the clear advantage a barcode scanner
> has it that it reduces transcription errors -- which is extremely
> important for item barcodes. If a typo is made in one of those, you might
> not find out until at the circ desk when it will look like the item isn't
> in the system.

Agreed. Also, although students will do *some* of the data entry, the brunt of it will probably fall on the librarian herself.

I just want to say thanks again to all who have answered with their ideas and input even though I haven't responded individually. I feel more empowered than when I joined the list and hope that the ideas presented help others in their time of need.

I suspect that in the end we're going to go with Koha (I'm actually an experienced web developer so I am fairly comfortable with such systems) and a basic bar code reader (I'll put up my own money if I have to, grrr!) and I might even tweak the Koha code to get the book covers from Amazon (will submit patch if I do).

Please don't be offended if I sign off of this list. Your help and input is greatly appreciated but my inbox is already overflowing (inbox zero is a pipe dream for me).

Sincerely,

Ted Stresen-Reuter
http://tedmasterweb.com