Dear SueAnn:
Unfortunately, I don't have time today to respond appropriately to your
question, but if you can forgive the self-plagiarizing I posted the
following the other day; some, but not all of it <g> will be relevant to
your question, I think:
Also, I have a working library application done in Access that you can look
at for ideas at:
www3.sympatico.ca/lornarourke
That website has been up and down lately, but look at the link for Fred's
database..
I will check back here when I have a bit more time!
HTH
Fred Boer
Quoted...
It would be difficult to answer your question without more information. For
example, are you dealing with an inventory of 500, 5000, or 50,000 books? Is
this a personal collection of books, a private corporate library, a special
library, or a public library? Will you need a circulation system? And so
on.. Are you thinking of creating a library system from scratch using
Access? If so, you may wish to do some research to ensure that you are not
reinventing the wheel. Even a quick Google search reveals many dozens of
vendors selling a wide variety of library management software. For example,
you might look at the following:
http://directory.google.com/Top/Reference/Libraries/Library_and_Information_Science/Software/
Or, you can find shareware library systems as well, with, for example, a
search at
www.tucows.com. Creating a library system could be a very costly
solution, and you might find that a professionally written commercial
package would be much more cost effective.
I am a teacher-librarian for a small school, and I have created a library
system for my school in Microsoft Access. However, while there were good
reasons that I did this, I would never suggest that I think it was the most
cost effective or efficient solution. (BTW, a disclaimer: I am not a
professional programmer, and I have nothing to sell!). To answer your
specific questions: 1) I use a wedge-type barcode scanner and a free 3 of 9
barcode font. Scanners of the type I use cost between $200-$300, possibly
less. It has worked well for me, but I run a small library (20,000 titles),
for less than 300 patrons. 2) Obtaining cataloguing from various electronic
sources is a very common feature in library management software.
Your biggest problem won't be a lack of solutions to your library management
needs, but finding the best solution within the multitude of available
options!
