Student Bar Codes

[DDWCHS@AOL.COM]

Welcome to another, hopefully successful, year everyone!  We are seeking
advice regarding student bar codes.

In the past, we have issued new bar codes to each student, each year, which
was to be placed on their ID cards, and then presented each time to check out
material from the media center.  Here we are, however, facing a new year,
complete with new ID cards, and not looking forward to the task of starting
from scratch once again.

Here is the dilemma:  Should we continue to issue new bar codes every year to
every student?  This is VERY time-consuming and costly.  We go to the trouble
of assigning all 1900+ students (grades 9-12) a new bar code number into the
circulation computer, then when they check-out their first book of the year
we have to stop and find their bar code in the class folders and then place
it on their ID card.  You can imagine the problems when eight or ten students
come to check-out with two minutes left in the period, and they all need
their bar codes first.

We have thought of a couple of alternatives, but if you have faced a similar
situation and found something that works better, we would like to first hear
from you.  Please e-mail us directly ASAP with some advice.  We would like to
implement the new procedures as of next week, so time is of the essence!

Thank you very much for your help.

Doug Gilliland
Media Specialist
Warsaw Community High School
Warsaw, IN