[Koha] Barcode nightmare

[Seth Mayo]

Can Petrus give any hints as to which perl files need to be changed to
address barcode differences?  I'm going to see if I can do it myself
as I have some programming experience.  However, is there a
possibility of working with Petrus if I can't get it to work?

Seth Mayo
IT Technical Manager
Email:  smayo at stpeters.nsw.edu.au
-------------------------------------------------------
St Peter's Anglican Primary School
Howe Street
Campbelltown NSW 2560
PH: 02 4627 2990
Website:  http://www.stpeters.nsw.edu.au





2009/11/18 Agnes Rivers-Moore <arm at hanover.ca>:
> We have just migrated 6 libraries. Of those 6, three have more than one
> variant of barcode, two had 4 types. Really a nightmare!
>
> It took us a lot of SQL and Perl script work by a consultant with those
> skills, but it is possible if the size of your collection makes it
> worthwhile. If you have a definable range of numbers that can be changed to
> one type, that can be done with SQL in the table after import, or by script
> editing the 952 fields before import. Better to use the first option if you
> want to import and match other circulation or item information after the
> MARC records are in.
> We also have a clever script that allows us to correct the Koha table by
> scanning the barcode, as if we were checking it out - saves the need to
> search for each title and edit the items individually. This was custom work,
> not part of Koha.
>
> I have copied this message to the consultant who did the work for us...
>
> Agnes
>
>
> Seth Mayo wrote:
>>
>> We are gradually getting everything together to move to Koha from
>> Alice.  Many of you will remember that back in July I was trying out
>> various library systems and decided that Koha was a great system to
>> get on board with.
>>
>> At this time of the year, the nitty-gritty of the system is going to
>> start getting looked at.  I have a few questions to ask regarding the
>> system but the most important one is:
>>
>> Is there a way to force Koha to re-write barcodes on the fly?
>>
>> Situation...
>>
>> Our library happens to have two barcode formats on books (long story):
>>
>> Type 1 Example: R36758W 2560
>> Type 2 Example: + 2560 013037 6
>>
>> There are two problems with this - both having to do with our existing
>> system (Alice for Windows) not actually cataloguing the whole barcode.
>>
>> Apparently when the system was set up, the following is what it was
>> set up to do (and thus what we need to achieve in Koha since changing
>> the barcodes on all the books is not an option):
>>
>> Type 1 conversion:  R36758W 2560 has been stored as R36758 (string is
>> concatenated)
>> Type 2 conversion:  + 2560 013037 6 has been stored as R13037 (string
>> is rearranged and concatenated - ie. first 4 characters removed
>>
>> The letter 'W' in the first type is randomised on the barcodes so
>> there is no way of recovering it.  The 'R' in the second type is
>> simply added to everything.
>>
>> Any help with any of this would be appreciated.
>>
>> Seth Mayo
>> IT Technical Manager
>> Email:  smayo at stpeters.nsw.edu.au
>> -------------------------------------------------------
>> St Peter's Anglican Primary School
>> Howe Street
>> Campbelltown NSW 2560
>> PH: 02 4627 2990
>> Website:  http://www.stpeters.nsw.edu.au
>> _______________________________________________
>> Koha mailing list
>> Koha at lists.katipo.co.nz
>> http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
>>
>>
>
> --
>
> Agnes Rivers-Moore
> Assistant Librarian
> Hanover Public Library
>
>