Most borrowed authors from UK public libraries, 2005-06

[wellinghall]

1. Jacqueline Wilson C
2. James Patterson A
3. Josephine Cox A
4. Danielle Steel A
5. Ian Rankin A
6. Janet & Allan Ahlberg C
7. Mick Inkpen C
8. Roald Dahl C
9. John Grisham A
10. Nora Roberts A



1. James Patterson
2. Josephine Cox
3. Danielle Steel
4. Ian Rankin
5. John Grisham
6. Nora Roberts
7. Agatha Christie
8. Bernard Cornwell
9. Katie Flynn
10. Patricia Cornwell

I am familiar with two of these authors, and have read a couple of books by two others.



1. Jacqueline Wilson
2. Janet & Allan Ahlberg
3. Mick Inkpen
4. Roald Dahl
5. Lucy Cousins
6. Lucy Daniels
7. Eric Hill
8. Enid Blyton
9. Francesca Simon
10. Nick Butterworth

I am familiar with two of these authors.



1. Roald Dahl
2. Agatha Christie
3. Georgette Heyer
4. C S Lewis
5. Beatrix Potter
6. Charles Dickens
7. Jane Austen
8. J R R Tolkien
9. William Shakespeare
10. A A Milne

I am familiar with six of these authors.

Published by Public Lending Right, Richard House, Sorbonne Close, Stockton-on-Tees TS17 6DA, www.plr.uk.com

Comments

[didiusjulianus.livejournal.com]

It doesn't mean it's more appealing necessarily, for example, maybe Dickens is borrowed because it's a set text for things (if, for example, I shortly go and borrow Of Mice and Men it's not because I "want" tobut because I need to), or perhaps more people buy Tolkien and borrow Dickens? Also, look at the ratios of number of publications from each author. There are many explanations. Although, maybe Dickens is just more popular among library users, nothing inherently wrong with that IMO.

Sorry, I'll stop being a stats geek for a minute now.

[sigisgrim.livejournal.com]

Yes, you are very probably right. However, I would argue that Dickens is tedious and boring and not worth reading, whereas Tolkien isn't tedious or boring and is well worth reading. Just my opinion, of course. ;-)

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah me to. I was just trying to find reasons to believe Dickens isn't that popular after all ;) dj