Identifier:LIMS

From Syscore

The LIMS ID an identifier printed on the front of the UMBC One Card in both human and machine readable (barcode) formats. It is used by the library to identify a patron in the their patron management system.

Like the ISO ID on the back fo the card, LIMS numbers are issued only once with the printing of the ID card. New ID card == new LIMS ID.

The LIMS ID has a special format, specific to some library "industry" standard; these numbers are used to identify books, assets, and patrons.

they're something like:

X YYYYY ZZZZZZZ C

Where "X" is the type -- in this case, always "2" for a "patron".

Where "YYYYY" is the "institute ID" -- in UMBC's case, "14290".

The "Z"s are the unique number that we're assigning to an individual. There's magic in that number.

and "C" is a checksum, particular to the barcode standard being used.

Please see the UMBC::ID::LIMS perl module for useful functions for dealing with these things.

We store an individual's LIMS ID in the umbcLIMS attribute.