One problem with truncated fields in database forms

DVD Cover

Checkout receipt from the library's self-checkout terminal

Detail of checkout receipt

For some reason my daughter decided she had to borrow this DVD from the local library. Libraries use massive databases as their catalogues. These databases include information on everything from the author, publisher, and distributor to date of purchase, price paid, and cover art.

While the database fields can be pretty much any length, on some of the forms that library patrons use and see, the field length must be truncated. This can have some unfortunate results. This checkout receipt is one of the them.

I don't think that the cataloguers at the library really intended that this DVD be described as "Growing up with Hello Kitty 2, Hell". The "Hell" is just the truncated version of "Hello Kitty Learns To Share".

Depending on the field contents, the truncated version of the item description could have been more objectionable than just "Hell". But after being forced to view about 15 minutes of the DVD I think that "Hell" sums up the video's content pretty well.