At the Yale University Art Gallery we use bar codes with TMS to do exactly 
what you are planning to do.

TMS has a Bar Code applet that will allow you to print object, container 
and location bar codes as well as upload scanned files to TMS and make 
location changes.

It has many other functions, but those are main ones that interest us.

Working with Brian, I wrote Crystal Reports that will print object, 
container and location bar codes. In my opinion, these work better than the 
BC printing in the TMS applet.

We use Zebra BC printers with 3" wide by 1" high labels on a roll. The TMS 
applet has problems with the small labels and the Zebra printer, while it 
works great if your printing to sheets of labels on a laser printer.

I find the Crystal Reports BC printing works much better with the Zebra 
printer and our labels.

We attach the labels to archival tags, so they need to be small.

For scanning we use Compaq Ipaqs with a scanning sled attached. These are 
portable and reliable.

Currently I'm testing the TMS BC upload function of the TMS applet. We hope 
to put this into production by the end of the year.

One problem with the Ipaq is finding a good text editor like Notepad that 
will input the scans and not pad the file with blank space. The standard 
Ipaq applets require me to edit the files in Notepad to remove blank space 
before uploading the file to the TMS applet. I've tried both the Ipaq Notes 
and Excel. Both required exporting the data to txt files, which is part of 
the problem.

We used this configuration to move our collection to a warehouse for 
renovation (without the scan upload functionality). Next year we will be 
moving it back to it's original spot with the added functionality of the 
scan upload and location change.

In a nutshell, this is what we do with bar codes. Please ask specific 
questions.

David Parsell

At 04:29 AM 9/29/2005, Jonas Karlsson wrote:
>Hello TMS users,
>I have a question about barcode scanners and TMS. Has anyone implemented a 
>system that use barcodes with TMS? We are planning for a system that will 
>make it easier for our staff to register object moves. The idea is to have 
>barcode tags on all objects an also have a barcode at each location and 
>then use a pocketPC to scan and connect these two and the update TMS. How 
>this is going to work in detail is not at all clear.
>If you have any experience with these ideas please share it with us.
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Med vänlig hälsning/Kind Regards
>
>Jonas Karlsson
>DBA / IT-Support
>Moderna Museet
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