[Koha] Generate barcodes

[Scott Owen]

Using Koha 2.2.9 on win32

I was not happy with the standard barcode generated by Koha (when I 
could get them to work) so I used the following software and process to 
generate my own.

********************************
Free barcode 39 font http://www.squaregear.net/fonts/free3of9.shtml
Free (for non-profit and edu) label making/design software 
http://www.idautomation.com/labelsoftware/free/
MySQLAdmin and GUI tools from 
http://library.pantek.com/Applications/MySQL/Downloads/MySQLGUITools/mysql-gui-tools-5.0-r12-win32.msi 


Install MySQLGUITools.
Use a multi-table MySQL query to pull the data from both the biblio and 
items tables into a single “output” table, then export to CSV.
<http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread22066.html> 
<http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=377068&seqNum=7>
the SQL query :
SELECT biblio.biblionumber, biblio.title, items.barcode, 
items.itemcallnumber FROM biblio, items WHERE biblio.biblionumber = 
items.biblionumber;

Will produce (in my case) a CSV like
biblionumber 	title 	barcode 	itemcallnumber
1 	Novell's ZENworks administrator's handbook / 	1 	
2 	The New York Public Library desk reference. 	30525 	031 new
3 	Picture perfect / 	36003 	FIC PIC
6 	Just listen : 	30431 	FIC DES
5 	The lovely bones : 	30319 	FIC SEB
8 	Unexplained / 	109541 	001.94 ALL
9 	Whatever happened to Janie? / 	109542 	
10 	The bad beginning / 	50000 	F SNI
11 	The field guide / 	50003 	F DIT
12 	The clique : 	109528 	F HAR


As you get into larger and larger biblionumbers you may want to add a > 
to the query:

SELECT biblio.biblionumber, biblio.title, items.barcode, 
items.itemcallnumber FROM biblio, items WHERE biblio.biblionumber>4 = 
items.biblionumber;
The >4 causes the query to only show rows where the biblionumber is 
(greater than)> 4
******************************************************

Install the barcode font, and the label making software. You can then 
design your labels, input data from the CSV, and produce your own custom 
labels with almost any information you desire.
I include the barcode, title, call number, and school name on all of my 
labels.

If you can obtain one, the Brother QL-500 is a wonderful label printer 
that also includes label design software that will allow you to print 
barcodes.

This process is not as easy as just pressing the button in Koha, but, I 
have found it to work better in my environment.

-Scott Owen
Alma Public Schools



Didac Grau wrote:
>
> I am trying to generate barcodes from Koha (Using Generate Barcodes 
> Link at Koha Admin ->Barcode Generator->generate Barcodes). But I 
> always find an error:
>
> [Tue Jun 02 12:43:25 2009] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] Premature end of 
> script
> headers: barcodesGenerator.pl, referer:
> http://intranet/cgi-bin/koha/barcodes/barcodes.pl
>
>
> [Tue Jun 02 12:43:25 2009] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] Unable to open
> /tmp/978851-127.0.0.1-(From to )-[2.6.2009]-[12:43:24].pdf for writing at
> C:/usr/site/lib/PDF/API2/Basic/PDF/File.pm line 511., referer:
> http://intranet/cgi-bin/koha/barcodes/barcodes.pl
>
> Koha 2.2.9 on my windows.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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