[Archivesspace_Users_Group] using barcodes to track usage

Thu Apr 20 16:50:46 EDT 2023

Hi Molly

I'd recommend something simple-ish like the following - in a very handwavy overview.....

When scanning the barcodes, collect them in some form that a custom script can read from - even a plain text file would work if your circulation stats are low enough. I think two pieces of data would do it - barcode and timestamp.

Then create a script that uses the ASpace API to harvest the data you need for your reports. The data you need is spread across multiple tables, so crafting the script will be a bit complex and may involve multiple calls to the API for each container (though you may be able to resolve everything for a specific barcode in one call - not sure about that).

The script could then write the resolved data to a circulation stats file. Run that script periodically and use the timestamp of the circ stats file to filter the barcode data file to just the new entries in the barcode file.

A database would be a much better fit for gathering the data, but it could be done with plain files.

We have something sort of similar via a plugin (that also does a lot of other things). I'm happy to share the plugin to spark ideas, but it won't work in a vanilla ASpace instance since its so heavily customized to our specific use case and has dependencies on a bunch of other very customized plugins that we use.

Best,
Joshua

________________________________
From: archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org <archivesspace_users_group-bounces at lyralists.lyrasis.org> on behalf of Hults, Molly <Molly.Hults at austintexas.gov>
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2023 2:59 PM
To: archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org <archivesspace_users_group at lyralists.lyrasis.org>
Subject: [Archivesspace_Users_Group] using barcodes to track usage

Hi all,

I work for a small archives that is part of a public library system. We want to create a simple way to track what boxes are pulled for the Reading Room using the barcodes that are part of the top container subrecord . We don’t require people to register to use our archives so a product like Aeon is way too sophisticated for our needs. Additionally, for privacy reason we don’t want to track specific user information. We just want to be able to pull basic information such as accession number, collection title and top container information into a database when the barcode is scanned. Before I talk to our IT department I wanted to check to see if anyone has already built at tool like this for their repository?

Thank you,

Molly Hults | Collections Manager

Austin History Center | Austin Public Library

molly.hults at austintexas.gov<mailto:molly.hults at austintexas.gov> | 512 974 7382

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