Tip of the Week

Tip for: 12.01.2004

An Unused Barcodes Caution
Summary: Many of you may alreadyuse the Unused Barcode report and preference button to determine what barcodes within a particular range aren't being used. This can be very helpful as you are looking for a range of barcodes to give a vendor and makes it easier to find gaps in your barcode range. We want to offer a word of caution, however. If you decide to reuse barcodes that may have belonged to a recently lost book, be aware that if the book comes back and you aren't aware of it, you could accidentally check in or out the current book using that barcode number.

To run an Unused Barcodes report from Reports:

With Alexandria open, select Special Reports from the Reports drop-down menu.

Choose Unknown Barcodes from the Report Name drop-down menu.

From the Format drop-down, choose Current List Format if you just want to see a list of barcode numbers, or choose Custom Barcode Format if you wish to print up barcode labels that can be used when cataloging future items.

Enter the desired barcode numbers in the Starting with and Ending with fields.

Click Print to print the report to screen.

If printing barcode labels, a window will appear allowing you to modify the labeling of the barcode (e.g. change default library name to teacher name, etc.), along with adding information to a field below the barcode.

Select Print from the File menu or use the cmnd/ctrl-P shortcut command to send to your printer.

To use the Unused Barcodes button from Preferences:

With Alexandria running, click on Preferences from the Edit menu.

Using the drop-down set to Library Information, switch to either Item Management or Patron Management.

Change the Local drop-down menu to Global.

Click on the button marked Unused Barcodes.

Enter the barcode numbers to Start and End with.

Click the Use Custom Barcodes box, if you wish to print barcode labels for the unused numbers.

Click Ok.

If printing barcode labels, a window will appear allowing you to modify the labeling of the barcode (e.g. change default library name to teacher name, etc.) along with adding information to a field below the barcode. Then click Print.

Select Print from the File menu or use the cmnd/ctrl-P shortcut command to send to your printer.

Thank you,
The Alexandria Staff Librarians