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Massive bar coding projects require a great deal of planning and preparation, and usually involve most of a library's staff. The swift and efficient execution of the project is paramount. While a large‐scale bar coding project can be intimidating, detailed planning can prevent hours of anxiety and the need for crisis management. This article attempts to provide a comprehensive overview of the relevant issues for a successful bar coding project. Selecting bar codes, planning and structuring a project, calculating time estimates, and maintaining staff morale are presented in detail. A selected bibliography provides access to more information.

The evolution of bar code standards is briefly discussed. The two standards most frequently adopted by libraries, Code‐A‐Bar and CODE 39, are described in detail. The format of the codes, as used in many library applications, is illustrated. Definitions of terminology employed in the article are appended.

Automatic identification and data capture/collection (AIDC) systems are one of the most widely used and under‐recognized IT strategic assets in use in the global economy. Data collection and integration strategies are essential to enterprise resource management systems as well as warehouse management systems. The development of innovation through the development and marketing of products and services has been a key source of competitive advantage for many large and small manufacturing firms and is greatly aided by AIDC technologies. Management needs to control quality, cost, schedule, location of warehouses and plants, inventory levels, pricing, shipment, and a vast host of factors that are based almost entirely on the volume and quality of data and data collection. A discussion of types of bar coding technologies and their associated software/hardware requirements is included, with a mobile communications example.

Descriptions of optical disk equipment usually begin with terms like CD‐ROM or WORM, leaving the reader to grope for some understanding of what the equipment does. In that frame of mind, it can be difficult to think of creative ways to use the huge capacities offered by optical disks. And, there is little basis for constructive thought about the relative advantages of one type of equipment compared to another.

If you had been using a 300 bit per second (bps) modem, then switched to a 1200 bps unit, as so many users did a couple of years ago, you were probably impressed with the changes you saw. Transmissions that would slowly sweep across lines of text at 300 bps began pumping out those lines at heartbeat rates.

This article examines the phenomenon of RFID (radio frequency identification) technology and its implications for both management practice and research over the next decade.

The article examines RFID, incorporating the latest information and research findings on how the technology is being utilized today and planned for in the future. The article uses both academic and practitioner‐oriented resources to support its findings.

RFID is an emerging technology that is forecast to grow exponentially in use over the next decade. RFID, which uses radio waves to identify objects, is projected to rapidly supplant bar code technology as the principal means of identifying items in the supply chain and in a wide variety of applications. This overview of the fundamentals of RFID is presented to give the reader a working knowledge of the technology.

The article looks over the horizon at implications for management research, outlining how this represents a greenfield opportunity for research directed at a wide variety of topics and settings in the broad management discipline.

The article concludes with a look at RFID's implications for our day‐to‐day business and personal lives, including a number of cutting‐edge applications for the technology.

In this article, the author gives the history of RFID technology, how it works, how it differs from bar codes from a technical and operational perspective, and how RFID provides organizations with a unique opportunity to create value through the use of this new media technology.

Libraries, both public and academic, deciding to circulate unbound periodicals in an automated circulation system, must develop procedures for handling individual issues. A survey of 232 public and academic libraries, using four major turnkey systems, revealed that most public libraries circulate or plan to circulate unbound periodicals in an automated system while most academic libraries do not. Most libraries are satisfied with automated circulation of unbound periodicals. Methods used by public libraries are summarized; those employed by academic libraries are described. The procedures developed at the Eastern Washington University Library are explained in detail.

For some time the pharmacy sector has been in the unusual position of having two codes at its disposal — the standard EAN code and its own Pharmacists Interface Product (PIP) code. The latter has been used by independent chemists and especially members of the NPU. Now Boots has decided to “go EAN”. Gil Jones discusses the implications of this decision for the pharmacy sector.