[PADG:1877] Re: barcoding for offsite storage

["Winston Atkins" <Winston.Atkins@xxxxxxxx>]

At Duke, we've been placing all barcodes on the bottom of the back cover
near the spine so that we don't interfere with art and text on the front.
The art librarian was a strong ally for the practice. To keep from having
our books covered with so many barcodes that they look like an old steamer
trunk, all newly cataloged/barcoded books have their barcode placed there,
whether destined for offsite storage or the general stacks.

One caveat is that publishers' ISBN barcodes sometimes interfere. I think
we could have put barcodes on the upper back cover if we'd begun the
process using trays with the cut running the opposite way--from upper left
to lower right--but we already had a lot of trays filled when we ran into
the issue and changing the workflow and practices wasn't an option.
Best,
Winston
_______________________________

Winston Atkins
Preservation Department
Duke University Libraries
Campus Box 90189
Durham, NC 27708-0189

winston.atkins@xxxxxxxx
Ph: 919-660-5843     Fax 919-684-2855
_______________________________


                                                                                                            
                      Emily Holmes                                                                          
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                      12/19/02 09:38 AM                                                                     
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Like so many institutions these days, NYU is in the process of creating a
high density offsite storage facility. One of the many questions that has
come up in this process is how (and where) to barcode the books. So, I'm
wondering what you all have been doing and how it's worked for you. Have
you been placing barcodes on the inside or outside of the books? If on the
outside, where on the book are you placing them? On the front or back? Are
they at all damaging to the outside covers or do they tend to fall off of
highly used volumes (we'd be uniformly barcoding *all* volumes on the
outside, whether they're headed for storage or not)

We're also pretty concerned about many of our little used, fragile 19th
century cloth bindings and the effects of pressure sensitive adhesives,
particularly if they are applied to the front covers. I'm wondering if this
has been a concern for others and how you've managed negotiate this with
other librarians and managers within the library.

Thanks very much for any help you can offer. Happy Holidays to you all!
Emily

Emily Holmes
Assistant Preservation Librarian
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Sq. South
New York, NY 10012-1091
Phone: (212)998-2518
Fax: (212) 995-4583