a compact optical scanner comprises a housing assembly rotatably mounted on a support member for movement between horizontal and vertical positions . a pair of compressed flexible arms inserted into socket 28 of the support member 26 provide a frictional drag when the housing assembly is rotated , allowing the assemby to be oriented at any position . the housing assembly includes an outer housing member having a scanning aperture and an inner housing member containing an optical scanning apparatus for projecting scanning light beams through the aperture for scanning a bar coded label . a source of scanning light beams mounted in one of the walls of the inner housing member projects the light beams along a path to a multifaceted spinner which is mounted offset to the light path . the mirror facets on the spinner are offset to each other to reflect the light beams at a pair of pattern forming mirrors which form a scanning pattern composed of a plurality of slightly curved scan lines for scanning truncated bar code labels .