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Introduction | Description | Summary | Conclusion

 

Introduction

The introduction of automation into basic library processes has brought the need for unique identification of objects stored in databases. Especially the automated registration of records on loans requires the provision of:

1. a unique identification of library units, which are the subject of loan, and other operations related to loans (e. g. bookings, remainders, extensions), and users (readers), to which the services are provided,
2. error-free records of these identifications into appropriate databases.

These two basic requirements can in the simplest way be satisfied by using methods minimizing errors caused by the human factor:

• formal checking of format and duplicity of selected identifications (this being the task of software instruments),
• introducing some of the techniques of automated reading of these identifications which, apart from increasing the reliability of recording input data make the operations faster. From the point of view of automation of interlibrary loans and optionally also of other processes (circulation of a joint collections of several libraries, etc.), it seems convenient to label the library units not only with the identification of the library unit itself but also of the library to the collections of which they belong. This enables partner libraries to use stored data repeatedly during these processes on libraries and information workplaces. Considering these requirements and using the experience of advanced foreign libraries, a system using bar code for identification of library units has been designed on the basis of an agreement of the STL in Prague and the Slovak Technical Library in Bratislava. It was then discussed and recommended at a meeting of representatives of state scientific and central libraries at the National Library in Prague and 1990 and is currently practically used in several hundred libraries.

 

A brief description of the system

The proposed system is based on the following rules:

• the identification of the library and the library unit shall consist of a single data field, expressed by means of bar code,
• libraries are advised to use the "39" bar code system ("3 out of 9", to be exact), since it enables to express all the initial 128 ASCII characters (i. e. the whole ASCII table) and therefore has a more universal use,
• however, the system must meet the requirements of the EAN encoding,
• the solution should be as versatile as possible while remaining as simple as possible,
• the solution must be free of variable elements.

This means that the code must consist of numbers only and must meet the (stricter) EAN requirements.

Due to the requirements on code content it must be based on EAN 13, which has 12 characters carrying information and 1 control character. The 12 characters carrying information include a prefix, which in this case must express that the code is an "internal" one, i. e. one used for libraries in the Czech and Slovak Republics. The first two characters of the prefix are sufficient for that.

This means that there are 10 characters available for the identification of the library and of the library unit. This string is then common both for EAN and 39; system 39 has no prefix and may or may not include the check character.

If we are to respect the requirements on simplicity, universal character and neutrality of identification, libraries must then be divided into groups according to the size f their collections. According to statistics, the maximum size of library collections of individual libraries in former Czechoslovakia reaches millions of volumes. Then, in order to be able to identify library units

• in libraries where the number of units exceeds 9 million, 8 characters shall be needed to identify the units,
• in libraries with millions of books 7 characters,
• in libraries with hundreds of thousands of books 6 characters, etc.

Statistics also show that for the identification of libraries with collections reaching

• tens of millions, a single character shall be needed (9 libraries),
• millions of units, 2 characters shall be sufficient (99 libraries),
• hundreds of thousands of library units, 3 characters shall do (999 libraries),
• tens of thousands of library units, 4 characters shall be sufficient (9,999 libraries). etc.

We are then left with a single character to separate or differentiate between the library code and the library unit code.

From several alternatives of the use of the separator character (due to the use of EAN, it must be a number), the following one was used:

The first (in the case of EAN, the third) character of the code shall be a digit expressing the number of characters used for the identification of the library (i. e. for libraries with collections reaching millions, the digit shall be 2).

 

To summarize, the identification of a library unit always consists of 10 digits and three elements:

1. the first element (a single character) expresses the number of characters used for the size of the library (it signals its size),
2. it is followed by a numeric code of the library (1 to 4 characters), expressing the location of the library,
3. and by the proper identification of the library unit (8 to 5 characters) within a particular library.

The following table clearly illustrates the system:

Size of library collections (on order of)	Code structure
tens of millions	1xyyyyyyyy
millions	2xxyyyyyyy
hundreds of thousands	3xxxyyyyyy
tens of thousands	4xxxxyyyyy

x are digits used to identify a library,
y are digits identifying a library unit

When using the "EAN 13" code, the 10 characters identifying the library unit shall be preceded by a double-character prefix and followed by the 13th check digit.

 

Conclusion

Following an agreement with the Slovak Technical Library in Bratislava (today the Centre for Scientific and Technical Information), intervals of digits needed for the identification of a library shall be divided in such a way that the first two-thirds of the relevant progression shall be used by Czech libraries and the remaining third by Slovak libraries.

We recommend that this system be used only for such type or form of documents which might be used in interlibrary loans, or become part of the collections in definitive form (e. g. bound periodical titles), or are of a more permanent nature. It would be uneconomical to use this system for instance for company literature, consisting mainly of prospectuses and leaflets, which are discarded from the collections after some time anyway.

We would like to invite all libraries in the Czech Republic introducing bar code in order to identify its collections to participate in this system used by hundreds of libraries in both the Czech and Slovak Republics, in order to make their cooperation easier.

In case of interest you can get more information at the following address:

State Technical Library
Department 21
Mariánské nám. 5, P. O. Box. 206
110 01 Praha 1
phone: +420 221 663 441
fax: +420 221 663 440
e-mail P.Slapnicka@stk.cz

PhDr. Miloslava Rupešová, State Technical Library in Prague, 12/2/91;
updated and completed by Petr Holý, 5/5/94;
last edited by Zdenka Fontánová, 3/23/01

15. 8. 2004   Petr Slapnička