"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.

1249 books out of 2103 items checked out at 17:00, 09.19.2017

[2103] Total items checked out	[0551] Dewey (non-fiction) Books	[0698] Non-Dewey (fiction) Books
[1249] Total Books	[0808] Media (dvd, cd, etc.)	[0006] 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
	132		[741] Drawing + drawings
	50		[641] Food + drink
	12		[629] Other branches of engineering
	12		[398] Folklore
	11		[811] Poetry
	10		[613] Promotion of health
	9		[305] Social groups
	8		[796] Athletic + outdoor sports + games
	8		[914] Europe
	8		[747] Interior decoration
	8		[635] Garden crops (Horticulture)
	7		[650] Management + auxiliary services
	7		[567] Fossil cold-blooded vertebrates
	7		[973] General history of North America United States
	6		[306] Culture + institutions
	5		[616] Diseases
	5		[158] Applied psychology
	5		[649] Child rearing + home care of sick
	5		[612] Human physiology
	5		[152] Perception, movement, emotions, drives