Home → Libraries Migrating into NC Cardinal → Getting Your Data Ready → Choosing a Barcode
Our recommendation is to use Codabar with a Mod 10 L-to-R check digit for item barcodes and patron barcodes. Check digits are not required by Evergreen and many Cardinal systems do not have them. They are however a "best practice" and may come in handy, for instance, if you want your self check machines to verify that the number it scanned is a valid barcode.
The other barcode type in use is Code 39.
Configuration of the Check Digit
Mod 10 L-to-R 2-1-2
check digit
Patron barcode begin with : 58198000000000
I’m
going to use the example sequence number of: 5 8 1 9 8 0 0 0 9 4 3 9 9
First, starting at the left, you multiply each number by 2, 1, 2, 1, etc…
5 8 1 9 8 0 0 0 9 4 3 9 9
X 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
10 8 2 9 16 0 0 0 18 4 6 9 18
If the result of any multiplication is a two-digit number, add those two numbers together to create one number. For example,5 x 2 = 10. Add the 1 and 0 together to get 1.
For the above number, results of the multiplication, then additions when there are two-digit numbers are:
1 8 2 9 7 0 0 0 9 4 6 9 9
Add all
single-digit results together:
1+8+2+9+7+0+0+0+9+4+6+9+9 = 64
The check digit is the amount you must add to this result (64) to get to the next multiple of 10. In this case it would take 6 to get from 64 to 70 so the check digit is 6.