Re: Barcode labels

["Jeanette B. Heath" <heathf@DREAMSCAPE.COM>]

>I will be putting barcode labels on my books soon and I would like to have
>suggestions on where to put them (front or back of book, inside cover,etc.)
>I would also appreciate knowing why you put them where you did.  What about
>barcode label protectors?  Are they necessary?  TIA

Dear Libby,
        We started out placing the barcode lables on the  upper right
corner of the back cover parallel to the spine.  I believe this was chosen
as it supposedly keeps students from peeling them off as often because they
don't look at the back of the book as often. Also, when doing inventory,
you just tip the top of the book forward and scan it.
        Since we buy most of our fiction from Perma-bound, we started
getting complaints from students!  It seems that we were covering up the
story synopsis that paperbacks and prebounds have on the back of the cover.
Now we place the barcode on the  upper right corner of the back cover
either vert. or horizontally, whichever covers less.  We have even trimmed
them to make them as narrow and unobtrusive as possible.

        Something I wish we had done is write the BC# on the inside of the
book somewhere, possibly the title page.  The books we have had vandalized
usually still have a title page, even if the vandals have stripped the
spine label, the BC and the pocket. Luckily this doesn't happen often, so
we just find the record with a title search.  I've heard of some schools
placing a duplicate BC on the pocket or the title page.

        By the way, many schools no longer use pockets at all.  We still
have a pocket in our books to place a date due slip, but we no longer type
any info on it.  It is just stamped with our school name and address.  This
really speeds up processing.

        We found that barcode label protectors are VERY necessary when you
use a scanning devise such as our laser pen due to the fact that the pen
rubs across the surface of the bar code and removes or smears the ink after
a while.  The commercial bar code protectors do a fine job on most
surfaces, but we found that the cloth covers such as is placed on books at
the bindary produces a surface that the commercial BC portectors don't
stick well to.  We fell back to good old 3M book tape, which is transparent
and through which the BC still scan well.

Hope this helps!


Mrs. Jeanette B. Heath
Library Media Specialist
Red Creek Jr./Sr. High School
PO Box 190
Red Creek, NY 13143
Heathf@dreamscape.com