Our collegues across the river at the MIT Camera Culture lab have created a new barcode technology called Bokodes.
You can see a description at this link: http://web.media.mit.edu/~ankit/bokode/
Also the BBC has picked up on this story http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8170027.stm
The interesting thing about this is that this new technology could change the way libraries track assets such as books and media. However, the conversion cost may not be practical since the standard 3 of 9 barcode system has been in use for decades and converting millions of physical items to a new system is a daunting task.
I would compare this conversion as similar to converting from Dewey Decimal to Library of Congress.