[Koha] Barcode quandry

[Albert P. Calame]

Hi again!

    This is an interesting problem, but one that could be addressed through cataloguing.  While I expect that you would have a main entry for the journal title which would include a statement of the volumes the library holds; for this special circumstance, I would add a catalogue record for the bound volume including the analytical information that you want to bring out. It is in the nature of MARC records that you have the fields of information to bring out additional titles and subjects that you want to highlight. You could have more than one set of such information in the same record. 
    
    It might require you to modify the screen displays in the OPAC so that the information would show up - but that is likely a desirable thing anyway in a special library like yours.  The barcode for this volume would be in the volume record, rather than in the main entry, so the item status would come up and not require an additional search.  In addition, when the user searches on the journal title, the analytical record wouls come up along with the main record entry.

    I think this approach would resolve the problem of seeming to need to have the barcode in more than one record.

    Regards,

    Albert P. Calame
    Librarian at Large 
    Library Management Consultant
    Montreal, Canada
    514-745-3424

    albert.p.calame at sympatico.ca
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bigwood, David 
  To: koha at lists.katipo.co.nz 
  Sent: Thursday, December 23, 2004 11:11 AM
  Subject: RE: [Koha] Barcode quandry


  There are times when having the same barcode assigned to different records might be useful.

  Here at the Lunar and Planetary Institute I create a catalog record for special issues of journals, an analytic. For example, a recent issue of Astrophysics and Space Science was a special issue with the title Magnetic fields and star formation : theory versus observations. I created a separate catalog record for that, however, it will be bound in a volume with other issues of and given a barcode for the bound volume. It is very possible there may be another special issue in that bound volume. All those bib records would be tied to the one volume on the shelf with the one bar code. Presently, I do not assign a bar code to the analytic records. It would be nice to assign the same one to all and then our users could see if the special issue was on the shelf or not. Now they have to do another search on the title of the journal and check there.

  When there is such a parent-child relationship between items it is possible to use the same barcode for multiple bibliographic records.

  Sincerely,
  David Bigwood
  bigwood at lpi.usra.edu
  Lunar & Planetary Institute
  http://www.lpi.usra.edu/library/whats_new.shtml
    -----Original Message-----
    From: koha-admin at lists.katipo.co.nz [mailto:koha-admin at lists.katipo.co.nz]On Behalf Of Albert P. Calame
    Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 10:24 PM
    To: BWS Johnson; koha at lists.katipo.co.nz
    Subject: Re: [Koha] Barcode quandry 

        I agree, of course, that the system should NEVER accept duplicate barcodes. They must be unique to the item they identify. If you must use, or are using a numeric only barcode symbology, then you should set different numeric prefixes to the ranges of numbers that you will use on the barcodes for different holding branches or libraries.

        Best wishes to all for a happy holiday season from the frozen North!!

        Regards,


        Albert P. Calame
        Librarian at Large 
        Library Management Consultant
        Montreal, Canada
        514-745-3424

        albert.p.calame at sympatico.ca
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: BWS Johnson 
      To: koha at lists.katipo.co.nz 
      Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 9:44 PM
      Subject: [Koha] Barcode quandry


      Salve!

      My .02 on having Koha accept two same barcodes - bad pie! That's one of the things I intentionally checked for when I installed. Perhaps there's a way to do a feature so that folks that don't want barcodes can shut it off, but I shudder to think at the possible multiple barcode errors that might haunt me later. I know it will catch multiple borrower ids in its own comma'd way, and I know that it used to yell at me when I used the same barcode, which I liked.

      As far as what you might be able to do about your branches - talk to your vendor and consortium about adding initial digits to distinguish between the branch and the main library. There might be a way to cleverly do this retrospectively. I know that there was a good old function key programmed at my old library, and I usually keep the 304540000 part of my barcode in a notepad file for ease of cutting and pasting. I can't think of any ILS off of the top of my head that wouldn't have the barcode function also as an identifier.

      Brooke @ Hinsdale 
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