LibraryCheckouts/summary.html at main · broyce24/LibraryCheckouts · GitHub

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<h1> Summary </h1>
<h3> The closing of Seattle Public Libraries meant lower checkout rates and a transitition to eBooks. </h3>

<p> Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all Seattle Public Libraries closed to the public on March 13, 2020. In late August, curbside and mobile services began to start up. This is reflected in our Monthly Check out Volume chart where you can see a drop from 200,000 checkouts in March to just under 100,000 in April followed by a slow increase once other library services opened up. </p>

<h3> There was a sharp increase in checkouts related to race in America in June. </h3>

<p> This increase happened soon after the death of George Floyd and during the plethora of protests that ensued soon after. In fact, 40 percent of the top ten list speak on issues of race in America with titles such as, "So You Want to Talk About Race" and "White Fragility". This finding shows a general consensus of the city’s interests, beliefs and general political ideologies and how they changed in response to current events. </p>

<h3> Top genres for checkouts are more geared towards young adults. </h3>

<p> At the top being fantasy and literature, most popular genres stay fairly regular relative to one another, with the exception of Juvenile Fiction (YA novel), which began being checked out at an incredible rate as quarantine set in. A likely explanation for this finding is that when school was canceled for middle and high schoolers, many of them choose to check out their favorite books to read while stuck at home. Young Adult is a very popular genre with this age group and this would explain the sudden boom in checkouts.</p>

<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p> The most important thing to take away is how heavily and rapidly Seattle citizens interests can change in response to current events. These interests are evident when analyzing Seattle Public Library checkout rates and provide clear reflections of the changing world around us. Our analysis will help policymakers better understand the interests and sentiments of Seattle residents over the year 2020 and this analysis can be extended far beyond just the year of 2020. This dataset begins with checkouts that occurred in 2005 and Seattle Public Libraries will continue to collect this data. This means there is the potential to further investigate the interests in social justice, self-help, disaster preparation, and other genres related to salient events from the last 17 years and beyond of Seattle citizens.  </p>
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<iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/1iu8uG2cjYFZS6wTxv" width="384" class="center" height="480" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/kitty-smart-1iu8uG2cjYFZS6wTxv">via GIPHY</a></p>