Data-informed insights on public libraries and their impact on book discovery, author brand development, and sales

 

Public libraries in the United States have supported publishers, authors, and booksellers by connecting readers in their local communities with books for more than 200 years. Over the past 10 years, public library websites have helped millions of patrons discover new books every year—some they borrow from the library, some they buy from their preferred retailer.

While public libraries’ core mission of providing access to information for all is generally accepted as being a critical aspect of literacy and democracy, their impact on book sales—positive or negative—periodically comes into question.

PANORAMA PROJECT

The Panorama Project advocates for purposeful cross-industry collaboration and transparency to more accurately evaluate and measure the role public libraries play in the book business. We also partner with industry associations, individual publishers, and public libraries to measure and analyze the impact of library collections, marketing, circulation, and events on the discovery and sales of specific titles and authors.

NEWS
Panorama Project Announces Third Quarter Picks

The Panorama Project is delighted to announce the latest Panorama Picks which showcase recent Adult Fiction, Adult Nonfiction, and Young Adult titles with the highest unmet demand in America’s public libraries. The nine regional lists, one for each of the eight regions represented by independent booksellers’ associations plus Hawaii, feature 25 titles in each category and illustrate both shared and unique interests of readers from across the United States.

Panorama Picks are unique from other lists in that they are derived from anonymized hold list data for eBooks from public libraries in the USA. The resulting lists of recently published titles have notably longer wait times for patrons of local libraries. This unmet demand represents sales and merchandising opportunities for booksellers and is a valued reference for collection development librarians. Given the lack of industry data and non-existent reporting on purchases of eBooks by public libraries, Panorama Picks offers insights to authors, agents and other publishing professionals looking for trends in readers’ preferences and the significant contribution of public libraries to overall sales of many individual titles.

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Panorama Project Announces Second Quarter Picks

The Panorama Project is delighted to announced the latest Panorama Picks which showcase recent Adult Fiction, Adult Nonfiction, and Young Adult titles with the highest unmet demand in US public libraries. The nine regional lists, representing each of the eight regions represented by independent booksellers’ associations plus Hawaii, feature 25 titles in each category and illustrate both shared and unique interests of readers from across the United States.

Panorama Picks are unique from other lists in that they are derived from anonymized hold list data for eBooks from public libraries in the USA. The resulting lists of recently published titles have notably longer wait times for patrons of local libraries. This unmet demand represents sales and merchandising opportunities for booksellers and serves as a reference for collection development librarians. Given the lack of industry data and non-existent reporting on purchases of eBooks by public libraries, Panorama Picks offers insights to authors, agents and other publishing professionals looking for trends in readers’ preferences and the significant contribution of public libraries to overall sales of many individual titles.

Read More →
Panorama Project Announces 2022 First Quarter Picks

The Panorama Project is delighted to announced the latest Panorama Picks which showcase recent Adult Fiction, Adult Nonfiction, and Young Adult titles with the highest unmet demand in US public libraries. The nine regional lists, representing the eight regions of the American Booksellers Association plus Hawaii, feature 25 titles in each category and illustrate both shared and unique interests of readers from across the country.

Panorama Picks are unique from other lists in that they are derived from anonymized hold list data for eBooks from public libraries throughout the United States. The resulting lists of recently published titles have notably longer wait times for patrons of local libraries. This unmet demand represents sales and merchandising opportunities for booksellers, serves as a reference for collection development librarians, and offers insights to publishing professionals looking for trends in readers’ preferences.

Read More →