HIT: Patron Barcodes, Part 3 (fwd)

[Marcia Jacques <mjacques@BVSD.K12.CO.US>]

From Crestwood Elementary
Just a few suggestions on the way I handle student bar codes:
1.  I place bar codes on a card along with a mailing label that has been
printed from our student records.
2.  Cards are laminated.  I found that a small pocket laminator works
best because the cards are more durable.
3.  Cards are arranged by classes and placed in an old card file.
4.  I do not allow our elementary students to keep their own cards.  In
fact I do not allow them to leave the library.
5.  As different classes come in to check out, I pull out the cards for
that particular class and place them on a table close to the circulation
desk.
6.  While I'm reminding students about overdue books, the teacher pulls
out the cards of students who cannot check out because of overdues.
7.  After selecting their books, students pick their library card up and
bring it to the circulation desk with their books.
8.  When the class leaves I replace cards in file behind the teachers name.

I've be automated for 6 years and found this method to be effective.
I purchase student bar codes from the company that supplies our
software.  There is a relatively inexpensive Kroy label maker that can be
purchased from Demco that makes bar codes.
My wife is a school media specialist, and I have volunteered in her place
on a number of occasions. Student barcodes are attached to cards in a
Rolodex behind tabs for teachers. (Cards arranged by grade, alpha by
teacher, alpha by student). The cards are re-used for as long as the
student remains at the school, simply moved to a new teacher each year.
They seem to hold up reasonably well; only handled by media center
personnel, not students.


From: "Randall M. MacDonald" <macdonr@snoopy.tblc.lib.fl.us>
My wife is a school media specialist, and I have volunteered in her place
on a number of occasions. Student barcodes are attached to cards in a
Rolodex behind tabs for teachers. (Cards arranged by grade, alpha by
teacher, alpha by student). The cards are re-used for as long as the
student remains at the school, simply moved to a new teacher each year.
They seem to hold up reasonably well; only handled by media center
personnel, not students.


From: kbw_inglis@MEC.OHIO.GOV
One suggestion re student barcodes.  If If your students have ID numbers,
you can ask Winnie to format their patron module to incorporate those
numbers into the ID barcode.  That way, the numbers can stay with a
student all years - unless the school changes these numbers each year.
This has worked well for us.  I am in a high school of about 1000
students.  Each user has a 9 digit barcode.  The first 3 are 100 then
comes 95 (or 96, 97, etc.) and 0123 (example) so the number for an
incoming freshman will be 100990157.  We issue cards to all freshmen
butfor the most part, we check out books by entering the name and
selecting the patron (it's faster).

From: Linda K Hill <lkhill@isbe.state.il.us>

I use follett, but the principle shhould be the same. I used student
cards the first year we had the system, I kept the cards in a roldex file
(at the time, we were a 6-12 library). My student workers do most of the
checking out and truthfully, some of them may be good workers, but they
aren't real quick at finding things that are alphabetically filed--it was
very frustrating when a whole class was wanting to check things out. So
we did away with the cards and just search on the students name & use it
that way. Since we only have @400 students, it doesn't take long for us
to learn their names--and we ask everytime just to check.
        They are assigned a # as freshmen (now we are 9-12 only) and they
keep the same number all 4 years. Ideally, everystudent would carry their
own library card and could only check things out with the card, but I'm
afraid most of our students wouldn't carry it & we'd have a problem with
lost/stolen cards. Anyway, this system works for us.

From: PLLINHS@URIACC.URI.EDU
In the school where I student taught, the patron barcode cards
were not fancy or decorated, as the students never saw them.  They
were kept in a rolodex file by grade at the Circulation Desk.

This had good and bad points...On the plus side, the cards could
be used for the entire time the student was in the school--just
rearrange the cards at the beginning of the year.  Also, students
couldn't lose them (or put them through the laundry in a pocket, etc.)

The only negative I felt was that the students (in 4th through 6th grades)
didn't get to start learning the responsibility of having a "library
card" and how to take care of it.  (Unless they had one at the public
library.

From: Mary Ellen McNamee <mmcnamee@cks.ssd.k12.wa.us>
I went to a copy shop and had business card colored paper cut (five
different colors). It cost me under $10 for about 1000 business card size
cut paper and was worth it to me not to cut it myself. I then put the
students barcodes on the business paper. I bought albums for each room
and baseball card holders. I put five students per baseball holder page,
each in a different color. This way the kids can zero in on their color.

The baseball holders take the scanner easily and the albums are just on a
shelf by room number so I just pull off the album as each class comes in.
The barcode cards follow the kids each year as they move on. We use their
student I.D.number so it never changes. Many of us in Seattle Schools use
this system and have found that it works easily.
From: "Eunice A. Heideman" <eheidem@cello.gina.calstate.edu>

Check with the people who do your school photographs.  They will usually
do a picture ID with the students barcode.  Because of the size of our
school and the number of photos we sell, they don't charge us anything
for a student ID and a backup rollodex.

From: Shayne <srussell@llnj.pppl.gov>
I'm starting a job in September as the librarian in a brand new middle
school.  Thought I'd share a patron barcode suggestion that was given to me.
A friend of mine keeps all her patron barcodes in a looseleaf business card
file.  I think she has separate looseleaf binders for each grade level (but
I'm not positive about that).  This way all the cards for a class are
together and there's no need to be flipping back and forth.  She had tried
putting  the barcodes on rolodex cards, which I was going to try too, but
she said the cards are alway falling out.  You can get the plastic business
card sleeves at office supply stores.  No decorations or anything on her
cards, and when she enters her patron records, she doesn't include homeroom
or anything like that, because then she'd have to go back in and change it
all the next year.  Sounded pretty good to me.  If you hear any other good
ideas, pass them along!  Good luck!

From: Donna S Cook <dsc@tenet.edu>
I keep each class's barcoded cards in small Rubbermaid plastic boxes with
the teacher's name on a label on top of the box.
When the class comes in, I pull out the right box and scatter the cards
on the desk by the circ computer.  The students pick up their cards as
they approach the computer with their books.  Then they deposit their
card back in the box as they move away from the computer.
If a student comes in without her class, I just do a search on her name,
and leave the box of cards undisturbed.

From: sheim@pacific.telebyte.com
At our elementary school, we have barcodes for students and staff in the
plastic pages to hold coins that fit into a 3 ring binder.  We bought the
pages at a hobby store after looking at the way 3 other elementary
schools stored their barcodes, and deciding this would work best for us.
Our classes do come in weekly for check out.  Each page holds 20
barcodes, and we have a class arranged on the back and front sides of
opposing pages so we can open the notebook and see the barcodes of all
class members without flipping pages.  We put the barcodes on small
squares of tagboard with the barcode at the top and student's first and
last name written under it.  Students keep the same barcode all the time
they are at our school, but they are moved to the pages with the rest of
their class.  This works well because we have full class checkout
regulary.When
students come in individually, they can locate their class pages in the
notebook pretty easily, or we just type in as many letters of their last
and first name as we need to bring their name up on the screen.  We have
used the same pages to hold barcodes for 5 years now, and a few of the
holes for 3 ring binder are starting to break through, so we will need to
buy some replacement pages.

From: TAYLORE@TEN-NASH.TEN.K12.TN.US
I'm also on Winnebago CIRC/CAT for Mac.  We print our barcodes for all
new patrons as they enter our school.  Student barcodes are put on 3x5
index cards and laminated, then distributed to the teacher's mailbox.  New
teacher barcodes are put on rolodex cards that remain next to the circ
computer (so they don't have to keep up with a card!!)  Students keep their
cards in the classroom in a poster with book pockets with their name on
them.  The little ones sometimes get the wrong card, so if you don't know
everyone, it's a good idea to inject a comment to the student checking out,
including their name (i.e., "Hi Joe, did you enjoy reading .....?")  If you
get a blank look or a confused answer, it pays to ask them if they are that
person!!!  We don't have this happen very often, but the print on the
barcodes is very small and makes it hard for the students to check it.
Some teachers write the student's names on the cards in big letters (we
started out with using transparency markers, but they smeared; if you use
permanent marker, it will come off with nail polish remover.)  The
teachers turn the cards in (completey cleaned off, supposedly!) at the
end of the year, and we will reuse them this year.  We alphabetized them
by grade level, so we can just pull cards by each class list at the
beginning of the year.  Hope this helps - nothing too elaborate, but with
over 1100 patrons, we try to keep it simple!!  ET;)