I'm newly entering the area of large-scale backup operations, and I have
an option to add a barcode reader to our tape library system that we
will be ordering (Qualstar TLS-5433 SAIT).  I'm wondering how important
it is to have a barcode reader on the tape library?  The way I
understand it (shaky, at best) is that Amanda writes a label to the
front of each tape, and that if you have barcodes on your tapes, it
maintains a mapping table between the two.  Seems like an extra step to
me, so the barcodes must have some benefit from a human-convenience
point of view, as opposed to Amanda itself.  Frankly, I'd rather not
spend the money as long as I don't regret it later.  Thoughts?

Thanks,
Fran