Ode to Accent!

After stretching my eyes over the Library Line
Carefully holding my last kleenex to dab the tear shine
Called ITD with no avail
Excel spreadsheets came with a magic spell
No more tears poor TL
Today we will make it all gel!
or
Automated
Crisis
Calling
Experts
Nightly
Toiling

Since Accent has been down, many TL's have posted their angst and frustration on our CLAS list serve. Because we have been advised by IMS not to use Accent in Offline mode because the information will not be updated to the system once it comes back up, many have created their own system. One in particular is using an Excel spreadsheet to scan in Student ID codes and Book barcodes. Once the system has been restored the TL can easily go back and enter the information from the excel document by scanning each into the system. However you must get the barcode download.
Here are a few sites...
http://www.squaregear.net/fonts/free3of9.shtml
http://www.idautomation.com/fonts/free/
http://www.barcodesinc.com/free-barcode-font/
http://www.bizfonts.com/free/IDAutomationCode39.zip
Once you have downloaded the barcode, you will need to:
1. Save attached font to computer desk top
2. Right click Start menu
3. Left click Explore
4. Open Windows folder/directory
5. Open Fonts folder
6. Drag font file from desktop into fonts directory
Some added tips from TL's at Vista and Virgil MS :
1. Enlarge the font to "20 pt
2. Do not format your spreadsheet with lines--the scanner will try to read the border lines as well as the bar code and will not be able to
3. You may not have to re-progam the scanner
4. When you create your Word or Excel document, change the font to IDAutomationHC39M (this is as opposed to Times New Roman , for example)
5. Use a different list for each day and adjust the Due dates processing each list at the end of the Accent Down time

A TL from Vista Middle School offered strategies to offset our crisis. She writes in a list serv email" "The other thing that I did last fall, besides preparing the spreadsheets and downloading the bar code font, was to print out all the student ID bar codes by homeroom. I alphabetized these by homeroom teacher name and put them in a well-labeled notebook which I stored right by the circ desk. When I got the news that Accent was going down, I was ready. I had my spreadsheets, I had my bar code font on the computer, and I had the complete list of patron ID bar codes".