About LibraryData Reports

Owned by Hannah Johnston (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Oct 03, 2019
5 min read

Popular Books Report |  Book Activity Report |  Collection Gaps Report |  Bestseller Circ Report |  Trend Analysis Report |  Saved Reports

Popular Books Report

What it is: A Popular Books Report lets you see the top titles ranked by highest loans, holds, holds per copy, renewals, or on-order quantities in a selected reporting period. You have the option to narrow by search criteria like subject category or pub date, or you can view circulation info for a specific list of titles by searching by ISBN.

What it isn't: A list of bestselling titles in the retail market. For that, use the Bestseller Report in SalesData. Or — for a comparison of circulation and retail sales — you can use the Bestseller Circ Report.

Who should use it:

  • librarians who are trying to build out a subject area in their library
  • publishers, distributors, sales agents, and wholesalers who want to see how titles are circulating in libraries 
  • librarians looking to replenish their most-held titles 
  • anyone who wants to see which titles libraries are ordering and adding to their collections 
  • anyone looking to review the most-circulated titles in the library landscape

Features:

  • reports can be run for all libraries or for specific systems or branches
  • advanced search criteria include: Canadian titles; titles with illustrations; titles available to order; loans/holds thresholds; pub date; subject category; languages; and by publisher/imprint/distributor
  • search by single or multiple ISBNs
  • BISAC subject and language analysis
  • view top titles over multiple time periods, including the current week, previous week, YTD, and lifetime
  • % change in number of loans from previous reporting period 
  • view All Market ISBN Cluster sales for titles in the generated list*
  • click on any title in the generated list to run a Book Activity Report for that ISBN cluster

*for users with access to BNC SalesData

More on using Popular Books Reports.

Book Activity Report

What it is: The Book Activity report allows you to view the circulation and inventory data for a single ISBN cluster. There are two sub-types of Book Activity report. Week by Week, to track the performance of an item over time; or you can view the Multi-Library data, to compare the performance of the item across multiple Library Aggregates. 

What it isn't: A report on a single ISBN. In LibraryData, a single title is defined as a single ISBN cluster, within the selected aggregate. Clusters are based on Catalog IDs with shared ISBNs. It's also important to remember that LibraryData is not a complete history of all sales of all books across Canada for all time. LibraryData launched in June 2019 with a select library panel that will grow and change over time, much like the book marketplace as a whole. 

Who should use it: 

  • anyone who wants to analyze the over-time performance of a single title 

  • librarians, publishers, and distributors who want to compare week-over-week circulation of a title in a single view

  • anyone who wants to see what the covers of different editions of a book look like

Features:

  • review holds, loans, and/or renewals for a single ISBN cluster in consecutive weeks

  • view a title's performance over multiple time periods, including the current week, previous week, YTD, and lifetime
  • display bibliographic and circulation data 
  • allows a user to analyze if there have been any media appearances or award nominations that might have influenced circulation in a week 
  • charted results for Week by Week reports
  • switch between Week by Week and Multi-Library views without needing to generate a new report

More on using Book Activity Reports.

Collection Gaps Report

What it is: The Collection Gaps Report shows titles that are missing from a library's holdings, meaning that there are NO copies in inventory, on order, or circulating. The report allows you to analyze a library's collection by comparing against another library (Compare to Library) or against the retail market (Compare to Sales). 

What it isn't: It is not possible to compare your Home Library with multiple retail markets in a single Compare to Sales Report, but you can compare with up to 6 Library Aggregates in a Compare to Library Report. It's also not possible to compare a retail market and multiple Library Aggregates in the same report. 

Who should use it:

  • librarians looking to identify titles performing well in other markets that they might want to bring into their collection 
  • anyone looking to compare circulation to retail sales

Features:

  • filtering available by loans, holds, and on order at comparison Library Aggregates; available to order; subject; and by language 
  • compare home and comparison Library Aggregates, as well as up to 5 additional aggregates 
  • reporting period can be the current week, last 2 weeks, last 4 weeks, or a custom 1 week period 
  • click on any title in the generated list to run a Book Activity Report for the corresponding ISBN cluster
  • click on any contributor in the generated list to view search results for corresponding ISBN clusters
  • BISAC subject and language analysis

More on using Collection Gap Reports.

Bestseller Circ Report

What it is: The Bestseller Circ report allows you to see a library aggregate's circulation and inventory data ranked in Bestseller order. This report is only available to LibraryData users who also have access to BNC SalesData. 

What it isn't: A comparison of sales and circulation for a distinct ISBN. SalesData reports (the Bestseller, Single ISBN, Multi ISBN, Market Share, Market Comp, and Gap Analysis) do not return ISBN cluster data - just sales per distinct ISBN. A Bestseller Circ Report compares sales data for a single ISBN with circulation data for the corresponding ISBN cluster in the chosen Library Aggregate. A single ISBN cluster can contain multiple ISBNs. 

Who should use it:

  • librarians looking to check up on their home branch's stock of top-selling titles, or circulation of those titles compares to sales in the retail market

  • publishers and distributors looking to identify under- or over-performing titles in specific libraries 

Features:

  • advanced search criteria include: available to order; units sold; subject category; and by language
  • selected reporting period can be the current week, last 2 weeks, last 4 weeks, or a custom 1 week period 
  • click on any number in the "ISBNs in cluster" column to run a Book Activity Report
  • shows you everything, unlike the Collection Gaps Report, which only shows titles that are not in the home branch's collection 

More on using Bestseller Circ Reports. 

Trend Analysis Report 

What it is: The Trend Analysis reports display over-time circulation data for entire languages or subjects to track changes in activity.

What it isn't: Unlike other LibraryData reports, the Trend Analysis report provides results for an entire category (subject and/or language) rather than title-level results. It is NOT possible to generate a report comparing subject/language activity at multiple Library Aggregates, or to compare with trends in the retail market. 

Who should use it:

  • librarians who want to review the performance of subjects or languages in their home branch 
  • anyone looking to identify categories of potential growth in a library system or branch 
  • anyone trying to get an overview of how a certain category or language of titles has performed over time, without looking at specific titles

Features: 

  • see how a subject or language performed over time at a specified Library Aggregate 
  • reporting period can be consecutive weeks, months, or quarters 
  • filtering available by language for subject trends, and vice versa! 
  • compare up to 10 subjects/languages in a single report

More on using Trend Analysis Reports. 

Saved Reports

What it is: You can create any of the above reports in the site just once, save the criteria, and arrange for the report to be sent to you (and others in your account, if you'd like) weekly. You can find and manage all your saved reports, as well as those that have been shared with you, in My Reports. If you have access to both SalesData and LibraryData, all of your reports will appear in the same My Reports page. 

Features:

  • distribute saved report via email or simply share them for in-site access with other members of your organization


Learn More