USB Barcode scanner research

Question

I'm doing some feasibility research with regards to a (large) book cataloging project. Any help would w/r/t good sources of information would be appreciated but the things I would specifically like to know are:

1.)does python have any modules for use with barcode readers (preferably USB)? What other programs are available for reading barcode information?

2.)This may be better answered with a few sources of information, but what kinds of things should I look for in a barcode scanner, especially if I'm looking to scan, specifically, a lot of barcodes on books.

3.)This may also be better answered with a few sources of information, what kind of information is stored standard in a book's barcode.

I know this is relatively off-topic, but any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

1. You don't need any - most USB barcode scanners emulate a keyboard - if you scan a barcode it simply sends a series of key presses representing the numbers (or text if it's a more advanced barcode encoding) encoded in the barcode. Most scanners are pretty configurable so you could configure it to send a special character before the barcode data, then listen for key presses and if it matches that special character, then focus on the input field where you want the barcode data.
2. It depends a lot on what you're trying to do, the furniture where it's being done, etc. I was involved in a reasonably large rollout of general purpose scanners (happened to be these) - it worked fine for what we were doing and there weren't any drivers to install or anything...the only thing that needed to be done was the stand that came with it was bolted to the desk next to the PC - and that wasn't our concern!
3. A typical book barcode encodes the book's ISBN.