Wishlist: Self check (web based) - Detect UPC/ISBN scans and notify/educate user

[Josh Stompro]

We have observed that new users of our self checks will sometimes scan the UPC barcode on the back of DVDs or the ISBN barcode on the back of books instead of the library barcode. This results in a "Item was not found in the system. Try re-scanning the item." error message. I don't think this message helps the customer understand what the issue is.

It would be ideal if the self check could optionally detect ISBN/UPC scans and alert the user specifically about what the problem is.

I would like it to be able to display an image with a depiction of where the library barcode is located, along with a more specific message "You have scanned the wrong barcode, please scan the barcode on the front cover of the item". Along with a specific error noise also.

Josh

[Terran McCanna (tmccanna)]

Great idea.

It varies dramatically where our libraries place their barcodes, so we couldn't give very specific instructions, but we could show an image of what one of our barcodes looks like.

[Thomas Berezansky (tsbere)]

As a general thought, many barcode scanners can be set to only scan specific barcode formats. Disabling those formats *not* used by your barcodes would stop them from scanning at all. In cases where the barcodes are actually close and the scanner may have scanned the wrong one by mistake this would be an even bigger help.

[Michele Morgan (mmorgan)]

I would second Tom's approach to this issue. Programming scanners so that the *only* barcodes they will read are library item and patron barcodes eliminates the need to make changes to the Evergreen code. It also entirely avoids the situation where the patron scans an ISBN or UPC, only to be told they've scanned the wrong barcode.