Something is Lost, Something is Found: Book Use at the Library Shelves

This paper investigates the life of books on physical library shelves. Most existing data on the use of library books uses logs to quantify loans, or user interviews to obtain insights into their use. We deploy a new specialised technique, photographing library shelves systematically over a week-long period, and noting changes to the positions of individual books, and movement over each shelf as a whole. Through this indirect observation, we demonstrate the use of shelved books within, rather than on leaving, the library. We reveal the first insight into within-library book use, and demonstrate that in-library use appears to be more common and over a longer period than previous research suggests.