Sunday, January 5, 2020

2019 Collection Analysis

Total Children’s Circulation: 131,869
Total Young Adult Circulation: 9,973
Total Youth Circulation: 141,842

2018 Total Youth Circulation: 130,555
Overall increase of 11,287

Collection size: 32,519
2018 Collection size: 34,223
Overall decrease of 1,704

Circulation Statistics and Details
The picture book collection size decreased by a little over 200, but circulation increased by 2,854 from 2018. This is one collection that definitely benefits from weeding. In 2020 the focus will be on popular subjects and themes, new copies of older classics, and updating the holiday picture books. Approximately 23% of the budget is dedicated to this area and it accounts for roughly 18% of our youth circulation.

The juvenile fiction and nonfiction collections decreased by almost 1,000, largely due to year end weeding of the nonfiction collection. Circulation increased by 6,985, largely in the nonfiction area, which increased by almost 4,000. Some of this is circulated to schools, but I estimate no more than 2,000 nonfiction is checked out to schools over the year. Nonfiction continues to be a popular collection and I have put approximately 23% of the budget towards developing and updating this collection next year. Another area with a significant increase was juvenile series, which had an increase in circulation of 1,422. This is impressive when you consider the collection size, increased from 2018 by a little over 500, is only 1,400! Shifting the books into bins made a big difference in encouraging kids to check out these titles, as did the many I featured at Bookaneers.

In 2019 I put a significant amount of budget towards building the young adult fiction collection, but this did not pay off in terms of circulation numbers. Through weeding the collection size stayed about the same, around 1,700, which is a little larger than the space can support. The ideal size for this collection is around 1,500. There was a small increase of 375 in circulation in this area, but not enough to justify a larger budget. In 2020 I will be putting more of the young adult funds towards graphic novels and manga and focusing our young adult fiction purchases on materials for the younger end of ya, middle school readers, and looking for more sports, mysteries, and historical fiction.

Other statistics of note
Children’s dvd circulation dropped by $1,400. However, many families do not have access to streaming services and I anticipate this collection will remain for a long time to come.
Board book circulation increased by 975.

Young adult graphic novel circulation decreased by 350, probably because more of the budget was focused on young adult fiction. I will redress this in the coming year.

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