Sender: Rare Books and Special Collections Forum <EXLIBRIS@RUTVM1.BITNET>
In response to Robert s. Martin's query, yes, we use the main library's
circulation system for the room use "circulation" of Special Collections
materials. We are new at this. As a result, many of of holdings do not yet
have bar codes in place. For some of the books which do have a bar code
assigned, that bar code has not yet been entered into the computer system.
The ultimate goal is that all of our use statistics, whether in room or out
of library, will be collected through the circulation module of the automated
system.
For materials in some of our specialized research collections, the bar codes
are attached directly to the book. The bar codes for books, etc. in the rare
categories are attached to strips of acid free paper or to acid free book
tags at the top of the strip so they can be inserted into the book and the
bar code will be outside of the book so as to minimize the chances of the
adhesive migrating into the book. We use the same approach for manuscript
materials, but this seems less satisfactory, as we have difficulty
guaranteeing that the strip within an acid free box will not tip over, thus
bringing the bar code into contact with the materials.
James F. Cartwright <jimc@uhunix.bitnet>
University Archives or
University of Hawaii <jimc@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu>