This past year marks the first time the Cordova Library tracked the most checked-out materials in the library.
Eowyn Gordon, head librarian at the Cordova Library, started collecting this data after she joined the library in October.
“I think it’s fun to look at,” Gordon said, “but the main reason why I was looking at these numbers when I moved here was (that) I wanted to get an idea of what people were reading for ordering.”
If certain titles are popular, the library will order more from that author in the future, and they’ll be more likely to order similar genres.
The library also tracks read in-library circulation numbers – which include books that people show interest in without checking out. This allows the library to know more about which books people are interested in, even if they don’t end up taking it home.
“We don’t like people to reshelve their books themselves,” Gordon said. “If they pull out a book, start reading it, and then reshelve it themselves, then we sort of lose that data. We’ve been heavily encouraging them to leave it on the table or bring it back up to us, because we will scan it and it’ll go into our system as a read in-library circulation.”
Gordon said that historical fiction and crime fiction are two genres that adults show heavy interest in, while graphic novels are extremely popular with younger readers. Tracking read in-library data is especially important for youth, Gordon explained, because kids often come in after school and finish an entire graphic novel.
“Even if they’re just flipping through it, that’s still showing interest, and shows that it caught their eye,” she said. “We really want to track that.”
According to Gordon, 10,743 physical items and 4,281 digital items – such as e-books and audiobooks – were checked out in 2024.
These were the top titles of 2024:
- “Friends Forever,” a junior graphic novel by Shannon Hale and illustrated by LeUyen Pham, was the library’s top book overall with 18 circulations.
- “5-Minute Snuggle Stories,” by the Disney Book Group, took second place with 14 circulations.
- In adult titles, “The Women,” by Kristin Hannah, topped fiction titles with 11 circulations.
- And in the non-fiction category, “Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones,” by James Clear, also circulated 11 times.
