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January 12, 2007
Fancy Schmancy barcodes
Aaron Schmidt gives us some examples of pretty, spiced-up, fun-to-look at barcodes on his blog, walking paper, and asks the question: "Could you grow your users affection towards the library by turning something otherwise unnoticeable into something clever and unique?" There are dozens of fun barcodes from the Japanese company Barcode Revolution.
I'd love to see a library barcode their movies with barcodes appropriate for genre, just as a starter. I guarantee you'd get comments from users. And since we're one of the few industries that actually re-uses barcodes (not using them just for a one-time retail sale), I would think the company would be interested in our business.
January 12, 2007 | Permalink
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Comments
I love the idea. I do think that this might be less practical for libraries than for businesses. While a manufacturer might need one or five or twenty barcodes, libraries need one for each item, which could be thousands or even millions. Still, I think it would be possible to work around this. We would just need to use a design where the barcode is incorporated but not an integral part of it. For example, the horse could probably be reprinted with many barcodes, but perhaps not the bowtie.
Cost is certainly an issue, but if people ask for it, I wonder how difficult it would be for our regular barcode vendors to jazz them up.
Posted by: Freya Anderson | January19, 2007
All libraries have to be accountable for their budgets, not just academic libraries Anna. I also think all libraries' patrons are more concerned with content than what the barcode looks like--again, not limited to academics. If this company could make these fun barcodes within the realm of affordability, I think they'd be great. If not, then I don't see many libraries going for them. Still--if they can be done affordably, why not spice up the one thing that is affixed to every item in our libraries?
Posted by: Sarah Houghton-Jan (LiB) | January12, 2007
I think that the pretty barcodes would have more appeal in public and school libraries than in a college or university. Our patrons are more concerned with the content and getting the material they want than with what the barcode or other labels look like. Plus, there's the whole cost and accountability element. We're supposed to be spending our budget on materials to support the curriculum.
Posted by: Anna Creech | January12, 2007
