General barcoding guidelines
General barcoding guidelines
The guidelines below indicate where barcodes should be positioned on items destined for the Book Storage Facility in Swindon, as well as instructions on barcoding items correctly according to their deposit status.
Barcode position
Due to the nature of the process by which material is scanned in to and retrieved from the stack, it is important that barcodes are consistently placed in the same relative position on each item.
This is generally the top left corner of the front cover in the horizontal position.
Special cases:
-A single book in a conservation box: the barcode should be affixed to the box rather than the item.
-Several books in a conservation box: if one item record represents all items in the box, the barcode should be affixed to the box. If items in the box have their own distinctitem records, they should be barcoded individually against these records.
-Several items tied together into a bundle: if the record represents all items in the bundle and the items are held together securely, the barcode can be attached to the first item in the bundle. If items in the bundle have their own distinct item records, they should be barcoded individually against these records.
Exceptions:
-Books published before 1882: for conservation reasons, rather than attaching the barcode to the item directly, itis affixed to a slip of acid-free paper which isthen placed into the item. These cases are flagged on ReBar by a black box with the text “This item is SPECIAL CARE”.
-Books/pamphlets in envelopes: the barcode is positioned in the top left corner of the back of the envelope, rather than to the flap on the front side of the envelope.
Legal deposit identification
Barcodes do not in themselves encode bibliographic information about items. However, they are used to differentiate items that have been received through legal deposit from those obtained through other means. The initial digit of the barcode indicates the legal deposit status of the item to which it is attached.
-Barcodes starting with a ‘7’ digit are used to show a particular item has been received through the legal deposit system.
-Barcodes starting with any other digit (most often a ‘3’ or ‘6’, though some libraries use other starting digits) are used for all non-legal deposit material.
Aside: Legal Deposit
The Bodleian Library is a copyright receipt library. Under the Copyright Act 1911 and Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003, the Bodleian is entitled to request a copy of any material published in the United Kingdom. It is important to assess whether the item in question is legal deposit and use the correct barcode to tag it correctly, as the library receives tax relief on the costs of the chambers in the stack that are used to house legal deposit material.
Assessing deposit status
Items received by the library are stamped according to the method by which they were obtained. It is these stamps that will allow you to decide whether or not an item was received through the legal deposit system.
The stamp is usually found on the reverse of the title page. Stamps showing a “C” (for Copyright), stars or a sun indicate that the item was received through legal deposit. Stamps without these symbols mean the item was accessioned through a means other than legal deposit, such as purchase or donation. Common examples are shown below.
If no stamp can be found or you are unsure whether a stamp distinguishes a particular item as being received through legal deposit, you should seek advice from a supervisor.
Examples of legal deposit stamps (a 7 barcodeshould be used):
Examples of non legal deposit stamps (a non 7 barcode should be used):
Michael O’Hagan, 30th November 2012