INSIGHT


‘‘ Nielsen Your 2022 library loans unwrapped


Nielsen’s LibScan collects information on library loans from a panel of over 40 library authorities across the UK. This data offers an insight into what library readers have been enjoying this year and how this compares to UK book sale numbers, which Nielsen collects from retailers.


L


OOKING at the loan numbers for this year until the beginning of November, Richard Osman takes both top


spots with the first two books in his Thursday Murder Club series. Crime, Thriller and Adventure novels are popular, with Lee Child’s Better off Dead at number three, and Ann Cleeves’ The Heron’s Cry at number 10. The only other Adult Fiction title in the top 10 is Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing, boosted by its film adaptation premiere in July, sitting at number eight in loans with a similar position of number seven in the book sales chart for the year.


Unlike sales charts, TikTok sensation Colleen Hoover is nowhere to be found in the top 10 and many titles hailed as TikTok successes that have netted high volumes of book sales, like Taylor Jenkins Reid’s The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, are much lower in the lendings chart. What is more popular with library readers are established and prolific Crime authors like Lee Child, Val McDermid and Ann Cleeves. More than that, children’s books occupy about half of all library loans


Highest Library Loans Title


1 The Man who Died Twice 2 The Thursday Murder Club 3 Better Off Dead


4 Octopus Shocktopus!


5 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Big Shot (Book 16)


38 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL


tracked by Nielsen this year (51 per cent), compared to 35.6 per cent of the UK book sales market. Pre-School and Picturebooks are especially popular with a 24 per cent share. Peter Bentley and Steven Lenton’s Octopus Shocktopus!, is the number one in this category, and its lendings exceed its sales – with 9,649 loans versus 2,638 sales in 2022 so far. Other favourites include Katrina Charman and Nick Sharratt’s The Whales on the Bus, Tom Percival’s Ruby’s Worry and Karl Newson and Duncan Beedie’s I Really, Really Need a Wee!, all sitting in the top 10 of all books loaned this year. There is a clear demand for picturebooks about managing difficult emotions alongside a healthy dose of humour and fun. Popular characters like Supertato and Peppa Pig are also familiar faces throughout the top 100 loans chart.


In Children’s Fiction, stalwart favourite Jeff Kinney is the most prominent author, with Diary of a Wimpy Kid peppered throughout the top 100. In general, backlist lendings of this series exceeded backlist sales. With the newest instalment published in October, perhaps children are keen to catch-up or reread in preparation


Author


Richard Osman Richard Osman


Lee Child & Andrew Child


Peter Bentley & Andrew Child


Jeff Kinney


Highest TCM Sales Title


1 It Ends With Us


2 The Man Who Died Twice 3 The Bullett That Missed


4 The Thursday Murder Club 5 How to Kill Your Family


For all ages, library loans trend more towards fiction than non-fiction.


Suzy Warnock is Account Manager at Nielsen BookData.


Author


Colleen Hoover Richard Osman Richard Osman


Richard Osman Bella Mackie


and are turning more towards libraries than bookshops to do so. Other popular Children’s Fiction series include Tom Gates, Harry Potter and Beast Quest. For all ages, library loans trend more towards fiction than non-fiction. Adult Non-Fiction (Trade and Specialist) comprised of 14.5 per cent of library lendings compared to 33.6 per cent of book sales in the analysed time period, with Raynor Winn’s The Salt Path the most popular title in libraries and Dr Julie Smith’s Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before in sales. Though children’s non-fiction was only 6.5 per cent of all library loans this was higher than the equivalent volume share sales of four per cent. The top children’s non-fiction book in libraries this year so far is Molly Potter’s How Are You Feeling Today, another children’s book with a focus on managing and communicating emotions. The freedom and range that libraries offer readers to find new favourites and rediscover old ones is one of the many wonderful gifts libraries give our communities. This sample of some of the year’s top titles shows the range of needs books fulfil across all ages, from understanding and managing your feelings to humour and adventure. IP


December 2022


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