You're sort of mixing apples and oranges, with a little cantalope thrown in as well.
The Weine classification system is way to assign subject-based classification numbers on the books, with the ultimate goal of shelving books that have related subject matter next to each other on the shelf. ISBNs are randomish numbers that are assigned by the publisher and have (essentially) no meaning. They're assigned in numerical order by publishers and provide absolutely no indication of the subject matter of the book. Two books on Kabballah published by two different publishing houses would have a similar Weine classification but totally different ISBNs. And yes, many books have the ISBN printed on the back cover in a bar code ... but ... see below. (Oh, ISBNs do have a little meaning -- the first character tells you the "region" of publication, with 0 and 1 meaning the English speaking world, followed by 2-6 numbers denoting the publisher. But that's not important for this discussion.) Barcodes for circulation are an item-by-item way of managing circulation. Each physical piece that circulates has its own unique barcode. You own five copies of a Potok book, each one has its own individual barcode, not duplicated by any other. They are arbitrarily assigned and have absolutely no connection to either the ISBN or the Weine classification EXCEPT in the way that your automation software links them. Your circulation system is (boiled down) tracking the status of a barcode number, which happens to be attached to a book. So - each number has its own purpose, but they're all different purposes. The automation system makes use of each number at the appropriate time. the public access catalog: gives you a Weine number ot find the book on the shelf the circulation system: uses the circulation barcode to track transactions cataloging/acquisitions stores the ISBN which helps in creating and displaying the bibliographic record. Hope this helps, Ted --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.580 / Virus Database: 367 - Release Date: 2/6/2004 ========================================================================== HaSafran - The Electronic Forum of the Association of Jewish Libraries Submissions for HaSafran, send to: Hasafran at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listserver at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 at osu.edu AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org/
