I got many replies with many good ideas. I will post them below. I like the idea of
dating the barcode either by colored dots or date on the code. It seems that would
be very apparent and not require these tired eyes to squint too much. Thank you all
for having such clever minds and being willing to share.
I purchase color-coded dots from Demco. Each year gets a different color. In five
years, I can pick out at a glance what isn't circulating and yank it.
I change the color of the ink on my due date stamper about every 5
years!
we have used the first and last number of the year (2009 = 29) as the beginning
numbers on the barcodes.
I date my barcodes with the month they are put out. I keep them on the new book
display for a month. Dating makes it easy to see immediately when to move them
from the display to the shelves. It's also a great way to do a quick check of how
old the book is vs. how many checkouts it's had when doing inventory.
I date the inside of the book. I also know which books that were in
the library when I got there (33 years ago as a 3-day a week person)
so that is a way to consider weeding. Of course, then there are my
childhood favorites (like the Boxcar Children) which usually find a
few fans each new generation.
I also try to weed as I inventory because the newer books shine thru
when they are on the shelf with the older titles.
Our nine digit barcode begins with the school code and then has the last
two numbers of the school year (example: all purchased this school year
will have 08 in them)and the last four numbers are the number of books.
Next year it will begin with 440090001. 440(school code)09 (school year)
and last 4 numbers number the books.
During 2000-01 I used an 11 digit number and included all of 2000 so that
they would not be confused with the books that were in the library when we
started cataloging because all of those began with the school code and
then just numbers (no years within barcode numbers). Hope this made sense.
If you keep a list of what barcodes were added each year, you can look
at the last number for the year you are interested in, and anything
lower than that is a candidate for weeding. When I started here in 1998
we were switching circulation systems, which required new barcodes, so I
know that anything with a barcode number of less than 11000 was here in
1998.
I weeded before the inventory, but like you, also weeded as I inventoried. That
worked well when i was holding the hand held, not so well when I had help. We did
catch a lot of old barcodes that don't read with our Destiny 14 digit system,
however, and they are stacked up to redo-after another weeding
we put the year inside cover of the date we added it to the collection. Of course,
you still need to look inside the book--but it's quite helpful. Also, since I've
been at the same library now for 5 years, I basically know (like you) which ones
are newer and which are older. However, my first year, it was a guessing game and I
went by copyright date and date of last use (quite time-consuming) Good luck,
Pamela K. Gelbmann
Wilson Elementary School
Anoka, MN
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