See how libraries are meeting ebook demand for the NYT Best Sellers list with this visualization

Fiction author, sourdough bread lover, and former Twitter executive Robin Sloan is answering a question you may have never thought to ask: which New York Times Best Sellers list ebooks are in the highest demand in the US public library system?

Sloan created an interactive visualization that lets you see how many people are on the waitlist to “borrow” a digital copy of a book (known as “holds”) and compare that against how many “copies” a library actually owns. Some are perhaps more popular than the libraries were prepared for!

I’m using air quotes because while digital goods are infinite, there’s a whole system in place that lets libraries continue to lend books (and their creators continue to get paid) as if they had a limited number...

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