{LVL1} Anyone have a barcode scanner?

[Raj]

Does anyone have a working barcode scanner that LVL1 could borrow for a short period of time?  I am trying to catalog all the books in the library in order to track their movement (some books we originally had are no longer there) and to set up a lending system.  On Monday night I went through the large box of scanners in the boneyard but was unable to get any of them working.  If you have a working barcode scanner -- even a CueCat -- I would appreciate being able to borrow it for a short period of time.  Likewise, if you are able to get any of the scanners at the space working, please help me out!

Thanks,

Raj

[Sean McPherson]

PS2 or USB matter? I have a couple of different units.

 

Sean

[Jason Dodd]

I can donate a cuecat.

[Raj]

Sean,

USB would be ideal, so I don't have to use a converter.  Honestly, though, as long as it works I'll take what I can get!  Am I correct in assuming that they work like keyboards in that when you scan an item a block of text is inputted?  Or do they require proprietary software?

Thanks,

Raj

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From: Sean McPherson <seanmcp@gmail.com>
To: lvl1@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2012 1:15 PM
Subject: Re: {LVL1} Anyone have a barcode scanner?

[Sean McPherson]

I should have at least 1 USB one that acts just like a keyboard, and which can decode a few dozen different types of barcodes automatically. Let me check tonight and I'll let you know. I'm at Knob Creek tomorrow so it may be Saturday when I can drop it off.

 

Sean

[Raj]

Awesome.  Thanks, Sean!

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From: Sean McPherson <seanmcp@gmail.com>
To: lvl1@googlegroups.com

Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2012 1:35 PM

Subject: Re: {LVL1} Anyone have a barcode scanner?

[D.s.]

[Lockadoc]

I left one at the space a year ago

I did see it in the bone yard a few weeks ago

Bill S

Sent from my iPhone

[Matthew Lichtenberger]

Just a thought, but if you have a smartphone they can do optical barcode reading through the camera, and I know the Barcode Scanner app on Android allows you to do batch scanning. May be a viable alternative as well.

[Jonathan Clark]

Raj,

I have atleast one Bluetooth wireless barcode scanner at the the space that I can leave out for you to use in the library ( as long as it's not being torn apart I don't mind it being used)

If we decide we really want to get some more of the really nice bluetooth barcode scanners I can get them with wall mount docks and chargers for around $50.  ( I used these at the shop for years and they work wonderfully)

[Raj]

Jon, thanks for the offer.  I don't plan on hacking it or anything like that.  I just want to be able to scan the UPCs on the books to build up a database so that we can catalog and check out books.  I know we are missing some books that used to be in the library, but without a database I have no idea what the extent of the problem is.  Does the scanner you have come with a bluetooth dongle for the PC, or will I need to acquire one?  Also, does it require proprietary software, or does it work like a keyboard input device?  Thanks!

-- Raj

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From: Jonathan Clark <jdc928@gmail.com>
To: lvl1@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2012 11:08 AM

Subject: Re: {LVL1} Anyone have a barcode scanner?

[Daniel Booth]

I have a good USB hand scanner that I was going to do the same with my home collection of books - that was until I figured out that the majority of my books didn't have ISBN's or reliable UPCs... (still planning to use it for my DVD collection)

Do you have software that will pull in the data about the book or are you just hand cataloging?

If you need software, I wrote a small app that pulls in info based on ISBN using a Google API.

It grabs stuff such as Title, publisher, publish date, # of pages, description (back cover type stuff), author(s), and cover art.

Do you need that sort of thing as well?

I hope to find time to stop by the space within the next week or so.  Family stuff has kept me swamped for the past month, but hopefully I'll get some free time soon.

-Daniel

On Thursday, October 11, 2012 1:14:26 PM UTC-4, Seeker wrote:

[Jonathan Clark]

Hey Raj,

The charging base for the bluetooth scanner is the receiver as well.  It plugs in USB and (for the mode it's currently set on) it just acts as input device although I do believe I have it configured to output a carriage return at the end of each read to advance to the next input field in the software I was using.  Another nice feature that you can configure is "Bulk" mode.  "Bulk" mode allows you to go well outside of the readers wireless range and gather a TON of barcode scans as fast as you can scan them and then go back to the base and "dump" all the codes into whatever software your using. It was really helpful for me to be able to quickly scan all our merchandise UPC codes and then let the software pull the needed data afterwards. This way I wasn't going back and forth between items, the computer, waiting for the software to pull data, and then going back to scanning.  

I'll locate the scanner for you this evening.