"Making Visible the Invisible", a data visualization commissioned by the Seattle Central Library, operational since fall 2005


This database receives by the hour all of the checkouts of books, cds, DVDs, and other material that library patrons take out of the library. The data at the library is classified in two separate categories. Non-fiction items receive a Dewey Classfication System coding, explained here: Dewey Decimal Classes. Fictional items are classified in a different way. This visualization features the top 20 most active Dewey categories. Click on each of the categories to get the chronological list of titles checked out during the previous hour.

 

0848 books out of 1092 items checked out at 17:00, 02.28.2026

[1092] Total items checked out [0340] Dewey (non-fiction) Books [0508] Non-Dewey (fiction) Books
[0848] Total Books [0183] Media (dvd, cd, etc.) [0007] Misc

Dewey Decimal Classification Graph

This map highlights current circulating books according to their Dewey classification category in Generalities [0-99]; Philosophy & Psychology[100-199]; Religion [200-299]; Social Science [300-399]; Language [400-499]; Natural Science & Mathematics [500-599]; Technology & Applied Sciences [600-699]; Arts [700-799]; Literature [800-899]; Geography & History [900-999].


     

The top 20 Dewey categories


  34   [641] Food + drink
  25   [741] Drawing + drawings
  11   [811] Poetry
  11   [796] Athletic + outdoor sports + games
  10   [358] Other specialized forces + services
  10   [794] Indoor games of skill
  8   [917] North America
  7   [597] Cold-blooded vertebrates Fishes
  7   [635] Garden crops (Horticulture)
  7   [914] Europe
  7   [598] Aves (Birds)
  7   [613] Promotion of health
  6   [305] Social groups
  5   [973] General history of North America United States
  5   [746] Textile arts
  5   [306] Culture + institutions
  5   [747] Interior decoration
  4   [895] Literatures of East + Southeast Asia
  4   [153] Mental processes + intelligence
  4   [155] Differential + developmental psychology

Hourly Histogram of Circulation Activities

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George Legrady, with Andreas Schlegel and August Black. This active webpage has been operational since October 2005