I'm looking for a programmed portable barcode reader (or a barcode
reader hooked up to a laptop) with the software that will let you scan
in barcodes, and the reader will beep if the barcode is on the list of
expected barcodes and BUZZ (or make a different beep, whatever) if its
not.

The readers I've seen on the market don't seem to mention software.

This is the problem I'm trying to solve.  We need to inventory a huge
amount of books, some of which are linked to a generic record that
gives no information about the book in the catalog.  Other books are
linked to the specific record, and they just need to be verified as
present.  We can get together a list of the books linked to a specific
record to check all the books we scan against.  There's a few more
complications, (i.e., a book may belong to a different branch, etc.),
but the basic jist is we can get our catalog to generate a list of
books we need just to verify as present, and all the others should be
yanked off the shelves to see what the problem is.  If we have a
barcode reader that didn't just blindly read in numbers to be uploaded
later, but gave us feedback as we went along as to what didn't belong,
we could really speed up the process.

Whatever system has to be portable, because the catalog computers are
even on the same floors.  And even if we could bring up all the books,
the computer catalog system won't let you sort out the books this way
without a lengthy number of keystrokes, so the software should be
specific to inventorying like this.

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Clarification of Question by dresdnhope-ga on 20 Apr 2004 08:50 PDT

To clarify:  We would do a shelfing section at a time, for each
reader.  That would be roughly one thousand books at a time. 
Initially we'd query our library system to list the books in call
number range 380 A through 382.823 D (the beginning and end of one
shelf) with a particular location code, (down in storage).  If the
discrepancies are huge, we could end up with a barcode list a lot
shorter (i.e., we have a lot of unidentified material) or a lot longer
(i.e, a lot is missing) than we'd expect just by estimating the number
of books that could fit on that shelving section.

The list we would provide would be a text file.  It may initially have
extra data in it like the book's title, call number, etc, but I can
massage the data down to a simple list of barcodes.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 20 Apr 2004 13:19 PDT

Just to make sure I understand your situation...the books all already
HAVE barcodes on them, right?  You want to scan the barcodes, and get
a beep or a buzz (or otherwise distinguish) whether that particular
code is already in the text-based database or not.

Is that the gist of it?

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Clarification of Question by dresdnhope-ga on 21 Apr 2004 07:35 PDT

Yes that is the gist.  Technically, the database is producing a list
that is text, and that's what we'd be working from.  All the books
have been barcoded, apparently with the idea that someday the books
would be added to the catalog.  I don't know how long ago this was,
but suffice to say it was long before I got here.  I'm pursuing this
to try to help management solve what has proven to be an intractable
problem.

To clarify the question:

Have you got a text file containing a (carriage return-separated) list
of numbers, and you just want a piece of software that will eg beep if
a number from a barcode is found in that list, or buzz if it isn't?

How big is the list that you want to check against, and what does it look like?

Why not use a palm and a bluetooth reader like this:
http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=107857

You could get all the info stored in your palm as a flat file or
database and dump it onto your PC, this may cost a little more than
you want to pay though.

Also you could check at places such as HSC Electronics for barcode
readers, and eBay, HSC has some great deals though and I do remember
seeing some wireless readers in the past.

-Import your data into a MS Access database (or your favorite database).
-Set up a query which searches for the barcode number in the database.
Make it play different .wav files (or other sounds) for different
outcomes.
-Plug in a bar code reader (one that plugs inline with the keyoard or
has software which simulates what is scanned as being typed; most work
like this).
(You can probably adjust it so that the scanner will simulate hitting
"Enter" at the end of the swipe).
-Open the query (where you could type in the barcode data) and swipe a
barcode; it either finds it or not.
-Repeat.

Obviously, this would take some refinement to make it as user-friendly as possible.

To pos_bob-ga:  The portableness of the barcode isn't the problem, the
programming is.  We've actually have portable readers already.  The
problem is I haven't seen any advertised that would warn you if the
barcode you scan in is already in the database.  Unless I've
misunderstood you, a palm reader wouldn't add anything without a
specific program.

To yipster-ga: This sounds good at first glance, although I haven't
created queries before or played wav files with a database, so I don't
know how hard it would be to set up.  Any extra comment would be
helpful.

dresdn