[Koha] Patron Barcode Question

[Owen Leonard]

> Got a question today that I never thought about before ... but it's a
> good one -- Where do patron barcodes come from?  How do they know
> where to start? And how do they know how to increment?

They start from the system you automated with originally, back in
1980s. Back then you started with 1 and kept going up. Since then you
switched to a system that needed patron barcodes to be a fixed length
number, so you programmed all your barcode scanners to pad the patron
barcode with zeroes. Now you're using Koha and you can't remember why
your patron barcodes are in this weird old format. You're buying
library cards with the numbers pre-printed on them and you have to
explain to the vendor why you have to do the barcodes that way. And
you have to struggle to remember how to program every new barcode
scanner. And you ask yourself... How did I get here?

 -- Owen


-- 
Web Developer
Athens County Public Libraries
http://www.myacpl.org