Panorama Picks is a project that aims to highlight the most popular books in libraries every quarter. The goal is to bring awareness to titles that fall outside the “bestsellers” label, with the idea that bookstores can take advantage of regional title interest and curate their stock to reach potential unmet reader needs.

During the first and second quarter of the project, the team explored titles which had been published in the last 12–24 months. During the third quarter, as reported previously, the metrics tightened. Books were limited to titles published within the last 6–12 months. Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, Project Lead for Panorama Picks, said the decision to look at more recently published titles was in part to reach indie bookstores—the closer to initial publication date books are, the more likely they can be acquired and stocked. It’s also an opportunity to highlight books that may already be available in those bookstores.

Panorama Picks selects 25 titles in each of the nine regions used by independent bookstores, using aggregated and anonymous ebook borrower data. This limits the pool of titles, but this niche provides the opportunity: indie bookstores, as well as libraries, can highlight the titles available in print that readers might be waiting for long periods to borrow via ebook and/or those indie bookstores can promote purchasing those titles through them. These top picks indicate that there is a lack of ebook availability relative to interest from borrowers and that readers within those regions have an unmet need.

The project’s methodology is as follows:

Panorama looks nationwide at ebook requests, identifying the top ten books in each category by total holds. Those top ten nationwide books are weeded out of the lists created by region. The remaining top 50 books by region are identified by total holds and available copies to serve that demand.

Ebooks that don’t have a print edition—books that are only available digitally—are pulled from the results.

The top 25 books from this analysis—those with high demand and limited availability—are pulled out.

Panorama divides their most popular books in libraries data into three different sets: adult fiction, adult nonfiction, and young adult.

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This round of data is especially illuminating, as it’s the last to explore demand in the wake of Macmillan’s library ebook policy. Libraries still purchasing Macmillan titles in digital form are limited to a single edition for a period of eight weeks following the book’s publication. In the Q1 lists for 2020 which will come later this spring, the impact of this policy might become a little clearer (or muddier).

“Panorama Picks focuses on identifying recent frontlist titles that may have faded from the national conversation but are still in-demand in different regions of the country, so these lists don’t include any of the titles published after Macmillan’s embargo started in November,” said LeCharles Gonzalez. “The circulation period measured includes November and December, though, so it’s possible some of the Picks were alternatives for readers unable to borrow a new Macmillan title because libraries were only allowed to buy a single copy.”

He added, “We’re still figuring out how to measure the impact as embargoed titles become fully available to libraries after their 8-week window expires, but with some boycotting Macmillan outright and others attempting to meet some of the demand by acquiring more print copies, it’s a complicated wrinkle that’d require Macmillan’s participation to fully iron out. When the time comes, Panorama Picks will exclude those affected titles since the embargo would disproportionately skew their hold ratios and not reflect the organic unmet demand that booksellers can take advantage of.”

It’s work like that being done by Panorama Picks that indie bookstores and libraries can use to both meet demand and show publishers like Macmillan that ebook use by library patrons doesn’t harm the income of authors. Indeed, lists like these show just how important library ebooks are for discoverability and popularity of mid-list authors who might otherwise not see huge budgets or marketing from their publishers.

A total of 190 unique titles appeared across all three categories surveyed, with 76 appearing on only one region’s lists.

The Most Popular Adult Fiction Titles in Libraries, October–December 2019

For the last quarter of 2019, there were a total of 49 unique titles, with 14 appearing only on one regional list—7 of those in Hawaii. Sixteen of the titles appeared on 8 or more lists.

The Top 10 Most Popular Adult Fiction Books in Libraries Overall

The top 10 is ultimately a top 8, as all of these titles appeared on each of the 9 regional lists.

Conviction by Denise Mina

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson

Recursion by Blake Crouch

The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez

The Huntress by Kate Quinn

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

The Top 10 Most Popular Adult Fiction Books in Libraries by Region: California

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer

The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez

Conviction by Denise Mina

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum

American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson

The Top 10 Most Popular Adult Fiction Books in Libraries by Region: Hawaii

Conviction by Denise Mina

The Peacock Emporium by Jojo Moyes

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

A Contract Engagement by Maya Banks

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson

The Tale Teller by Anne Hillerman

Cleaning The Gold by Karin Slaughter

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

The Top 10 Most Popular Adult Fiction Books in Libraries by Region: Great Lakes (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan)

Parental Guidance (A Hot Hockey Romantic Comedy) by Avery Flynn

Conviction by Denise Mina

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

The Book Women of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

The Other Americans by Laila Lalami

The Top 10 Most Popular Adult Fiction Books in Libraries by Region: Midwest (Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin)

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

Conviction by Denise Mina

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

The Book Women of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson

Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

The Top 10 Most Popular Adult Fiction Books in Libraries by Region: Mountain Plains (Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wyoming)

The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer

Conviction by Denise Mina

The Book Women of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

Recursion by Blake Crouch

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary

The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

The Top 10 Most Popular Adult Fiction Books in Libraries by Region: New Atlantic (Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia)

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

Strangers and Cousins by Leah Hager Cohen

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

Conviction by Denise Mina

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

The Book Women of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

The Other Americans by Laila Lalami

The Top 10 Most Popular Adult Fiction Books in Libraries by Region: New England ( Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont)

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Conviction by Denise Mina

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

The Other Americans by Laila Lalami

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

The Body in Question by Jill Ciment

The Top 10 Most Popular Adult Fiction Books in Libraries by Region: Pacific Northwest ( Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington)

The Handmaid’s Tale graphic novel by Margaret Atwood

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

Conviction by Denise Mina

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson

When All Is Said by Anne Griffin

The Top 10 Most Popular Adult Fiction Books in Libraries by Region: Southeast (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia)

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Conviction by Denise Mina

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

The Book Women of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson

Recursion by Blake Crouch

The Most Popular Adult Nonfiction Titles In Libraries, October–December 2019

Adult nonfiction is a fascinating category because of how wide-ranging it is and how much the regional lists can hint to regionally specific interests and trends. Nonfiction saw 67 unique nonfiction titles. Thirty-one of those titles appeared on only one list, and 13 of those came from Hawaii. Eleven titles appear on eight or more regional lists.

The Top 10 Most Popular Adult Nonfiction Books in Libraries Overall

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi (9 lists)

The Montessori Toddler by Simone Davies (9 lists)

Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport (9 lists)

Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez (9 lists)

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff (8 lists)

Burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagoski (8 lists)

No Visible Bruises by Rachel Louise Snyder (8 lists)

The Five by Hallie Rubenhold (8 lists)

Underland by Robert Macfarlane (8 lists)

Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want To Come by Jessica Pan (8 lists)

Everything is F*cked by Mark Manson (8 lists)

The Top 10 Most Popular Adult Nonfiction Books in Libraries by Region: California

The Vegan Instant Pot Cookbook by Nisha Vora

How To Hide An Empire by Daniel Immerwahr

Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez

Stop Doing That Sh*t by Gary John Bishop

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff

No Visible Bruises by Rachel Louise Snyder

Burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagoski

Underland by Robert Macfarlane

Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want To Come by Jessica Pan

10% Happier by Dan Harris

The Top 10 Most Popular Adult Nonfiction Books in Libraries by Region: Hawaii

The New Pie by Chris Taylor

Autumn Light by Pico Iyer

The Vegan Instant Pot Cookbook by Nisha Vora

Aloha Rodeo by David Wolman

Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up by Tom Phillips

Instant Pot Fast and Easy by Urvashi Pitre

Sea People by Christina Thompson

The Hormone Fix by Anna Cabeca, DO, OGBYN, FACOG

Medical Medium Celery Juice by Anthony William

Last Boat Out of Shanghai by Helen Zia

The Top 10 Most Popular Adult Nonfiction Books in Libraries by Region: Great Lakes (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan)

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff

Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez

Burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagoski

Signs by Laura Lynne Jackson

The Montessori Toddler by Simone Davies

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

The Five by Hallie Rubenhold

High Achiever by Tiffany Jenkins

Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want To Come by Jessica Pan

The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr

The Top 10 Most Popular Adult Nonfiction Books in Libraries by Region: Midwest (Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin)

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff

Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

High Achiever by Tiffany Jenkins

No Visible Bruises by Rachel Louise Snyder

Underland by Robert Macfarlane

The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang

The Montessori Toddler by Simone Davies

Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want To Come by Jessica Pan

The Top 10 Most Popular Adult Nonfiction Books in Libraries by Region: Mountain Plains (Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wyoming)

Insights From a Prophet’s Mind: Russell M. Nelson by Sheri Dew

Silent Souls Weeping: Depression by Jane Clayson Johnson

Medical Medium Celery Juice by Anthony William

The Five by Hallie Rubenhold

Burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagoski

Keto Diet by Dr. Josh Axe

Eight Dates by John Gottman

The Montessori Toddler by Simone Davies

Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff

The Top 10 Most Popular Adult Nonfiction Books in Libraries by Region: New Atlantic (Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia)

The Club by Leo Damrosch

Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez

No Visible Bruises by Rachel Louise Snyder

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff

Pleasure Activism by adrienne maree brown

The Impeachers by Brenda Wineapple

Solitary by Albert Woodfox

Signs by Laura Lynne Jackson

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

The Five by Hallie Rubenhold

The Top 10 Most Popular Adult Nonfiction Books in Libraries by Region: New England ( Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont)

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff

How To Hide an Empire by Daniel Immerwahr

The Club by Leo Damrosch

Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez

No Visible Bruises by Rachel Louise Snyder

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

Pleasure Activism by adrienne maree brown

Burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagoski

The Montessori Toddler by Simone Davies

High Achiever by Tiffany Jenkins

The Top 10 Most Popular Adult Nonfiction Books in Libraries by Region: Pacific Northwest ( Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington)

The Vegan Instant Pot Cookbook by Nisha Vora

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff

The Club by Leo Damrosch

Horizon by Barry Lopez

Pleasure Activism by A drienne Maree brown

Burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagoski

Eight Dates by John Gottman

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer

How To Hide an Empire by Daniel Immerwahr

The Montessori Toddler by Simone Davies

The Top 10 Most Popular Adult Nonfiction Books in Libraries by Region: Southeast ( Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia)

Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez

Burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagoski

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want To Come by Jessica Pan

Signs by Laura Lynne Jackson

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff

The Five by Hallie Rubenhold

The Montessori Toddler by Simone Davies

The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr

Digital Minimalism by Cal Newportt

The Most Popular Young Adult Books Titles in Libraries, October–December 2019

The YA category within Panorama Picks includes both fiction and nonfiction, as will be seen in the following lists. There were a total of 74 unique titles, with 27 appearing only on one list. Again, Hawaii led that ranking, with 10 of those titles only appearing in that region. Eight titles appeared on 8 or more lists.

The Top 10 Most Popular YA Books in Libraries Overall

This top ten list, like the adult fiction list above, is under 10 titles. There are eight here, with the number of total lists they appeared on beside the title.

The Lovely War by Julie Berry (9 lists)

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly (9 lists)

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki (8 lists)

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab (8 lists)*

Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufmann and Jay Kristoff (8 lists)

The Evil Queen by Gina Showalter

Broken Throne by Victoria Aveyard

Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins

*Note that The Near Witch is not a 2019 new release and falls outside Panorama’s typical parameters. The title was rereleased in 2019 with a new look and subsequently made more widely available digitally for libraries.

The Top 10 Most Popular YA Books in Libraries by Region: California

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki

Kiss Number 8 by Colleen AF Venable

I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver

It’s Trevor Noah by Trevor Noah

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

Bloom by Kevin Panetta

The Modern Faerie Tales by Holly Black

Prince Charming by Rachel Hawkins

Broken Throne by Victoria Aveyard

The Lovely War by Julie Berry

The Top 10 Most Popular YA Books in Libraries by Region: Hawaii

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

Again, But Better by Christina Riccio

One Punch Man, Volume 16

Wicked Fox by Kat Cho

Soul of the Sword by Julie Kagawa

The Everlasting Rose by Dhonielle Clayton

Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte

Defy Me by Tahereh Mafi

Broken Throne by Victoria Aveyard

I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver

The Top 10 Most Popular YA Books in Libraries by Region: Great Lakes (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan)

Stranger Things by Jody Houser

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki

Bloom by Kevin Panetta

You’d Be Mine by Erin Hahn

Lovely War by Julie Berry

It’s Trevor Noah by Trevor Noah

If I’m Being Honest by Austin Siegemund-Broka and Emily Wibberley

The Evil Queen by Gena Showalter

Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

The Top 10 Most Popular YA Books in Libraries by Region: Midwest ( Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin)

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki

My Hero Academy, Volume 17 by Kohei Horikoshi

My Hero Academy, Volume 16 by Kohei Horikoshi

Bloom by Kevin Panetta

Stranger Things by Jody Houser

Lovely War by Julie Berry

It’s Trevor Noah by Trevor Noah

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling

The Deceiver’s Heart by Jennifer A. Nielsen

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

The Top 10 Most Popular YA Books in Libraries by Region: Mountain Plains (Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wyoming)

Stranger Things by Jody Houser

My Hero Academy, Volume 17 by Kohei Horikoshi

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki

My Hero Academy, Volume 18 by Kohei Horikoshi

The Deceiver’s Heart by Jennifer A. Nielsen

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

The Evil Queen by Gena Showalter

Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Lovely War by Julie Berry

Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

The Top 10 Most Popular YA Books in Libraries by Region: New Atlantic (Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia)

I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver

It’s Trevor Noah by Trevor Noah

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

Lovely War by Julie Berry

Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins

The Queen’s Shadow by EK Johnston

The Top 10 Most Popular YA Books in Libraries by Region: New England ( Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont)

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki

The Modern Faerie Tales by Holly Black

I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling

It’s Trevor Noah by Trevor Noah

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

The Missing of Clairedelune by Christelle Dabos

The Candle and The Flame by Nafiza Azad

The Lovely War by Julie Berry

Birthday by Meredith Russo

The Top 10 Most Popular YA Books in Libraries by Region: Pacific Northwest ( Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington)

I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver

It’s Trevor Noah by Trevor Noah

Bloom by Kevin Panetta

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki

Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Nyxia Uprising by Scott Reintgen

The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson

Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

Lovely War by Julie Berry

The Top 10 Most Popular YA Books in Libraries by Region: Southeast ( Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia)

The Modern Faerie Tales by Holly Black

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki

Lovely War by Julie Berry

Bloom by Kevin Panetta

It’s Trevor Noah by Trevor Noah

The Evil Queen by Gena Showalter

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

Broken Throne by Victoria Aveyard

Prince Charming by Rachel Hawkins

Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout

What to Do With This Information

Seeing these lists monthly is interesting. But more than that, it’s information that’s actionable.

If you work in a library or in an independent bookstore, use these lists for developing reader’s advisory tools. Book displays would be especially powerful, encouraging readers to pick up the print book and borrow or purchase it, noting that it’s a title in high demand locally.

Where possible for libraries, purchase additional copies of ebooks in demand. The lists are determined by a high holds to available copies ratio, meaning there’s an especially unique opportunity to serve patron demand.

Bookstores should check stock and ensure ample copies of in-demand titles are plentiful. Likewise, if your website permits, create lists with links to purchase those titles.

Panorama Picks offers up a deeper look at popularity—and it can be a real boon for discovering highly regional titles. The possibilities for using this information both for your patrons and for your stakeholders are immense.