As I have mentioned, I am working on my annual Year in Review webinar, this year teaming up with NoveList. (There is still time to sign up here.)
With a new partner, comes the use of new data sets. For example, I got access to behind the scenes data about what people are actually searching in NoveList. But the inclusion of more data, meant there is not time for some I have used before, due to time constraints, yes, but also, there is less of a need to duplicate results.
However, great news for all of you, I have this blog that you are reading right now, and I can offer bonus content from our cutting room floor.
Case in point, the visualization you see above via data on library checkouts as compiled for all of 2023 by Syndetics Unbound. The visualization allows you to see the year that was fly by. You can watch books come and go and then come back in some cases, to the screen. And when you scroll below the graphic, you can see a list of the top 100 circulating titles in US public libraries over the calendar year of 2023. This data is drawn from he thousands of libraries that use Syndetics Unbound to enhance their library catalogs.
And of course, if I am going to point you to a resource here on RA for All, you know it will be one with an easy to access backlist. Syndetics Unbound gives you back list and more.
Click here for their News tab which has easy to access links to a year end report for Genres (this is key to the webinar as well), as well as a month by month report on the top titles at public libraries (as you scroll down they are there in reverse chronological order). And if you keep scrolling you get to the 2022 version of the 2023 report above. And even, 2021's list (although just the report, no visualization back then).
It's great to look at the year in checkouts and see the titles all in a neat ordered list, but unless you look at past year's the data is just interesting. It becomes helpful to you as someone who servers readers, when you look at trends, see how titles and authors move up and down in popularity over time, and think about your own library in comparison. This will all be explained win more detail with tangible examples on February 13th (again, sign up is here)
Full disclosure here, Syndetics Unbound is a competitor to NoveList (who I am giving my talk for and with); however, we did look at their data while making our Keeping Up with Books: Year in Review 2023 webinar to make sure the other data sources we had were comparable. I am happy to report that they are.
I also felt that it was imperative to share this resource because of the visualization provided. Having access to data in a variety of formats is important. People take in information in different ways. I am always making my best effort to provide access to information in as many ways as I can and this is an excellent opportunity for that.
This visualization of all of 2023 in checkouts is also a great graphic to share with patrons. You can post on social media or your website or both. You don't even have to be a Syndetics Unbound customer. They make this free to any and all. And your checkout numbers are probably very similar. Either way, you are showing them the US landscape for many libraries. Your patrons will enjoy seeing some of the books they checked out here in the video, as well as find new titles to check out.
Sounds like a win-win opportunity to look good and connect readers with books.
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