Examining your barcodes – Follett VERSION 6.00 User Manual

Page 297

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04/04

Chapter 25 Importing MARC records

297

3. When the import is complete, a message appears asking if you want to

import another file. When you are finished importing, click Close. The

application generates an exception report if any errors were encountered

during the import (see Interpreting the exception report," page 308).

For Winnebago records: Reconstructing your barcodes and more

Not all MARC records are created equal. To import title and copy records from

Winnebago's CIRC/CATr v6.7 or Spectrumr v3.x or v4.x, some special handling

may be necessary. Before you export your material records from Winnebago, you

need to look at your collection and the information in the Winnebago database.

Use the information in the next few sections to help guide you through the

examination, export, and import processes.

Examining your barcodes

Standard 14Ćcharacter barcodes contain a type identifier, location code, item

number, and possibly a check digit. Typically, only part of the barcode (the item

number) is stored in the Winnebago database. When importing your old records

into your new Follett Software database, the barcodes may need to be

reconstructed. Before that can happen, however, you need to determine how

much of the information on your barcode labels is actually in the database.

Gather a sample of items from your collection, preferably items that were added

at different times (e.g., last week, six months ago, two years ago, etc.). Use your

Winnebago software to look up each item and compare the material/barcode

number that appears in the Winnebago application with the number on the

barcode label.

Note:

The Follett applications support barcodes with 14 characters or less. If your

barcodes are longer, please contact Follett Software's Customer Service.

Do the numbers on the barcode labels exactly match the material/barcode

numbers in the application? If they do, see Scenario 1" below for more

information. If they don't, see Scenario 2" on page 298.

Scenario 1: Are the numbers on the barcode labels the same as the numbers in the

application? Make a note of the length of each material number.

In this scenario, material/barcode numbers with seven digits or less

are Follett Classic" barcodes. If you have material/barcode numbers

between eight and fourteen digits long, you must set up a temporary

Generic Code 39 or Generic Codabar barcode symbology for your

library materials (see page 39). Do not select a type identifier or

location code. To ensure that the incoming material is imported as

is," the item number must start in the first position, and its length

must equal the total length of the barcode. After importing, if

necessary, you can change the setup of your barcode symbology to

accurately reflect their contents (e.g., specifying type identifiers).

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