LibraryData

Wondering what’s the latest with LibraryData, our in-development library collection and circulation analysis tool?

After months of recruitment, we now have major library systems from across Canada contributing their weekly circulation data to the system. The beta site was launched to those participating libraries earlier this summer, and our development team is currently hard at work testing out its major features and ensuring that the data is in tip-top shape and accurately reflects the Canadian library market.

We hope to launch the system to libraries in the fall, with rollout to other stakeholders, like publishers, later in 2019 or 2020.

In the meantime, you can get a glimpse of the kind of data we’re already collecting with our blog post on the books Canadians were borrowing in the first six months of 2019.

If you have any questions about the project, you can get in touch at librarydata@booknetcanada.ca.

Give us your samples, your excerpts, your reading group guides yearning to be read

You may have noticed more samples, excerpts, and other supplementary data showing up in CataList of late. We’ve been actively soliciting this data for a few months now. Publishers are encouraged to make this practice standard for all forthcoming titles for use on CataList (and Loan Stars) but also for wider distribution throughout the supply chain via BiblioShare.

You can learn how to ensure that this data is available and circulating by watching this recent webinar, which also links to our detailed documentation on the process for BiblioShare and CataList. Questions? You can get in touch with the BiblioShare or CataList teams at any time.

New from BNC Research

Upcoming studies

Our research team has been hard at work analyzing the results from our State of Bookselling survey, which was fielded to independent booksellers across Canada for the first time ever earlier this year. A draft of the report is currently in progress, and should be released in the next few weeks.

We’ve also been busy putting together our annual reports on the sales impact of major literary awards, which will be released to SalesData subscribers as shortlist announcements are made throughout the fall and winter.

Recent studies

In the meantime, please feel free to peruse any of our recent studies, many of which are available for free on our website:

Borrow, Buy, Read: Library Use and Book Buying in Canada

An in-depth look at the intersection of library users and book buyers, popular subjects bought and borrowed, profiles of the average book buyer and borrower, and more.

Demand for Diversity: A Survey of Canadian Readers

A new study that investigates readers’ experiences with and interest in reading diverse books

The Canadian Book Buyer 2018

Updates previous consumer studies with the demographics, purchasing behaviour, format preferences, and subjects purchased by Canadian book buyers, including year-over-year changes between 2016 and 2018.

The Canadian Book Market 2018

Our annual comprehensive report on the Canadian market. Contains detailed information on more than 50 subject categories, including market share, weekly unit sales, average selling price, and top 10 hardcover and paperback sellers.

Tech Forum

Videos from Tech Forum & ebookcraft 2019

You can find recordings of the presentations and panels from March’s conference on the BookNet Canada YouTube channel, with the exception of the ebookcraft workshops and Ritu Bhasin’s keynote. They have been organized into two playlists for easy referencing and sharing:

Thanks to all the attendees, speakers, and partners who helped to make the conference a success.

Save the date for 2020

Want to save the date for next year’s conference? You can mark March 23-25, 2020 in your calendar. More details will be shared in the coming weeks, including the call for proposals.

You can make sure that you receive all the updates, plus access to exclusive discount codes, by subscribing to the conference mailing list.

Standards & metadata

Stay ahead of the curve with the latest blog posts from our bibliographic team:

ONIX code lists and context: Placement and context are meaningful in your ONIX data. We show you what that means so that you can improve your data for retailers and users.
Improvement is possible – Accessibility and using Product Form Feature: This post looks at the accessibility metadata available in the supply chain and tries to explain the problem and the design intent in the ONIX standard.
Producing “born accessible” books: Why you should create born accessible books, what that means, and resources to help you do it.
Don’t do what Donny Don’t does – Forgetting to update awards info: Why it’s so important to keep your awards metadata up-to-date.
Podcast – ISNI, the dream identifier: A look at the International Standard Name Identifier, ISNI, and its potential.

You can always find updates on bibliographic data and standards on our What’s New in Bibliographic Standards page.

Staff updates

Our team expanded this summer with the addition of two new staffers: Hannah Johnston, who will be lending support with product training as a Product Coordinator, and Andy Bone, our newest Software Developer. Click the links to learn more about them.

BookNet Canada Partner newsletter for summer 2019