Cataloging / Barcodes

I am in the process of Cataloging the books I have already purchased and acquired for my future classroom library. I am considering investing in a scanner and barcodes to make the check in/out process easier. There are going to be books I have multiple copies of, others will obviously only be a single copy.

Questions:

If I have the barcode # entered and saved into the barcode field in Library Thing, when the barcode is scanned does it automaticaly pull up that copy even if there are multiple copies in my library.

Would this feature work with any barcode I purchase or will it only work with the barcodes sold by Library Thing?

Is there a way to only make part of my library searchable. Not all books would be appropriate for my students depending upon which grade I get a job in. I am currenly buying books that would apply to the full age range of Elementary School (Kindergarten - 5th/6th grade). There will obviouly be some overlap with higher and lower ability readers.

Do you know Librarything sells barcode scanners and stickers? https://www.librarything.com/more/store

I would encourage you to make the full library searchable. In your catalog settings you can choose the collections that show in TinyCat, but I think you'd have to change it each time you have different groups looking at the catalog.

Besides books which i have labelled with LibraryThing barcodes I also have books donated from other libraries with existing barcodes and the LibraryThing scanner is able to pick out the unique copies based on barcodes

>1 wd40sw: If I have the barcode # entered and saved into the barcode field in Library Thing, when the barcode is scanned does it automaticaly pull up that copy even if there are multiple copies in my library.

As long as the physical barcode label (number) that you're scanning matches the "Barcode" field you have filled in for that record, on LibraryThing's end, LibraryThing/TinyCat will bring up the correct record/barcode number. That is: you want to make sure that you have the correct physical barcode label applied to each book, such that it matches the "Barcode" number you've given it on LT's end.

Would this feature work with any barcode I purchase or will it only work with the barcodes sold by Library Thing?

Our Barcode Support feature works with whatever you're using for barcode labels, as long as any scanner you're using will read them.

Is there a way to only make part of my library searchable.

As far as TinyCat goes, you can select which Collections from LibraryThing are included/visible on your TinyCat catalog, from your Basic Settings: https://www.librarycat.org/admin/settings/general. (Keep in mind that your LibraryThing account/library will still be fully public.)

Has anyone had any experience with RFID (microchip) shelf management systems? It is (or was) a very effective way to manage and track book movements, and much less obtrusive than bar codes.

Estoy aprendiendo a usar tinycat. Me gustaría que alguien me de sugerencia. Para yo poder replicar a los niños/niñas de mí escuela la cual trabajo, que son de Pre-Kínder a 8vo básico. Desde Coelemu/Chile
Escuela "Clementina Maureira Almarza"
La idea es instalar la Biblioteca Virtual/trafico y catalogación de libros. Este es un proyecto para que sea aplicados en la unidad educativa.
Bendiciones en Chile, llegó la Primavera
Saludos cordiales.

Hi friends. I am totally new to Tiny Cat and Library Thing and am setting up a mini-library for my local church in Vietnam. I have a problem while cataloging: I can't find a place to add an extra barcode for an extra copy of a book. How can I solve this? Really appreciate your help.

You need to have two entries if you want to be able to lend them separately.

>7 HTTL_Binh_Thoi: >8 MarthaJeanne: is correct, LibraryThing and TinyCat unfortunately do not yet have copies management (the "Copies" field on LT existed long before any lending capabilities or TinyCat were developed), so you would need to catalog each copy of your book/s separately if you wanted to track lending for them.