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Specimen Barcode and Labeling Guide: Difference between revisions
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Specimen Barcode and Labeling Guide (view source)
Revision as of 10:15, 6 February 2015
, 6 February 2015→Barcodes and GUIDs
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* KU Ichthyology has chosen not to use barcodes due to the cost per unit effort being too high. "Due to the fact that we only use barcodes for processing loans and inventories and process relatively small loans of material, the cost of adding barcodes to every jar (43,000 of them) far outweighs the gain achieved." from Andy Bentley (abentley@ku.edu) | * KU Ichthyology has chosen not to use barcodes due to the cost per unit effort being too high. "Due to the fact that we only use barcodes for processing loans and inventories and process relatively small loans of material, the cost of adding barcodes to every jar (43,000 of them) far outweighs the gain achieved." from Andy Bentley (abentley@ku.edu) | ||
==Barcodes and GUIDs== | ==Barcodes and GUIDs== | ||
Barcode labels typically contain identifiers that are ''locally'' unique, that is, unique within a collection or museum, but not ''globally'' unique, that is, unique outside of the collection. | |||
Global uniqueness cannot be achieved without adopting some international standard for identifier structure. | |||
* A digital specimen GUID is what identifies the specimen (part of an individual, an individual, a set of individuals) in the digital world, while a barcode identifies the specimen in the physical world. | |||
* A digital specimen GUID does not need to be physically attached to the specimen as long as some other type of identification (e.g., a barcode) can be used to locate/link the digital record to the physical specimen. | Groups have achieved global uniqueness by using an identifier strategy coupled with unique barcode symbology. For instance, UPC barcode labels (those that we find on products that we buy), are created with a combination of identifiers that are unique within the UPC domain and a format for the barcode symbols that is used only in that domain. An international agreement divides up the possible identifiers and assigns a range of numbers to an issuer. The barcode symbol has a specific format that is recognized by scanners as UPC. | ||
* | |||
The UUID (universally unique identifier) scheme is a strategy for generating and using large numbers (128 bit integers) as identifiers. The UUID generation strategy assures uniqueness. A UUID string is typically a combination of hexadecimal digits and dashes. For example: f47ac10b-58cc-4372-a567-0e02b2c3d479. | |||
'''In general''' | |||
* A digital specimen GUID is what identifies the specimen (part of an individual, an individual, a set of individuals) in the digital world, while a barcode label identifies the specimen in the physical world. | |||
* A digital specimen GUID does not need to be physically attached to the specimen as long as some other type of identification (e.g., a barcode label) can be used to locate/link the digital record to the physical specimen. | |||
* A barcode label may be useful for reading and writing by people, a GUID (especially a UUID) is typically too long to be read or written and is intended to be scanned only by machine. | |||
* Large GUIDs, such as UUIDs, are typically too large for 1D barcode labels but can be represented using QR code labels. It is not typical to include the text of the GUID as part of the label. | |||
If your specimens have specimen GUIDs, but not barcodes, and you are planning to generate barcodes that are the same as the GUID, consult barcode suppliers for technical compatibility (e.g., QR codes handle URLs well, and 1D barcodes are better for short sequences of characters). | If your specimens have specimen GUIDs, but not barcodes, and you are planning to generate barcodes that are the same as the GUID, consult barcode suppliers for technical compatibility (e.g., QR codes handle URLs well, and 1D barcodes are better for short sequences of characters). | ||