Analysing a personal library
February 2017

A friend of mine has collected books for many years and has recently begun to catalogue them. In this post, I show some simple analysis of the catalogue and then query an ISBN database to fill in some missing data.

In [1]:
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Out[1]:
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Set-up and data preparation

Set some settings and import some packages:

In [2]:
# Display plot results inline, not in a separate window
%matplotlib inline
%pylab inline

# Set the size of all figures
pylab.rcParams['figure.figsize'] = (14, 5)

import pandas as pd
import re
import bibtexparser

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
Populating the interactive namespace from numpy and matplotlib

Load the catalogue file:

In [3]:
table = pd.read_excel('Library.xlsx')
table = table[0:9188]
df = table
orig_rows = (df.shape[0])

print("There are %d rows in the catalogue" % (df.shape[0]) )
There are 9187 rows in the catalogue

Data formatting and tidying:

View the top 5 rows to see how the data is arranged and how many cells are complete.

In [4]:
df.head()
Out[4]:
Location Subject Title Author Publisher ISBN? Shelf Pages Price Value Date
0 HR Islam The Islamic Invasion R Morey Harvest HP 1960 0 89081 983 1 17cm 221 3 8 2008-04-01 00:00:00
1 HR Word lists New Testament Word Lists Morrison & Barnes Erdmans 1975 0 8028 1141 8 NaN 125 3 NaN 2008-04-01 00:00:00
2 HR Theology: Salvation The Triumph of the crucified E Sauer Paternoster 1952 NaN NaN 207 3 10 2008-04-01 00:00:00
3 HR Early Fathers Ante-Nicene Christian Library Ed Menzies T&T Clark 1897 NaN NaN 533 9 NaN 2010-03-01 00:00:00
4 HR Apologetics Earth’s earliest ages G.H. Pember H & S 1895 NaN NaN 494 3 NaN 2008-04-01 00:00:00

Set float format to two decimal places (currency). Not all rows can become a float:

In [5]:
pd.options.display.float_format = '{:,.2f}'.format

def to_number(s): 
    try:
        s1 = round(float(s),2)
        return s1
    except ValueError:
        return s
    
df.Price = df.Price.map(lambda f : to_number(f))  
df.Value = df.Value.map(lambda f : to_number(f))

Find and remove blank rows:

In [6]:
# How many rows are all NaN values
df = df.dropna(how='all')              # drop a row only if ALL columns are NaN
print('%d row removed ' % (orig_rows - df.shape[0]) ) # 1 row contained all NaN and has been removed
1 row removed 

List the number of rows in each column which are empty:

In [7]:
# How many rows in each column are NaN
df.isnull().sum().sort_values()
Out[7]:
Location       29
Title          34
Publisher     175
Shelf         336
Pages         540
Author        915
Price        3611
ISBN?        4770
Date         5712
Subject      6208
Value        9179
dtype: int64

Based on these results, title and publisher are the most complete columns

Split a column containing two types of data:

The “Publisher” column contains both the publisher and the year it was published. This should be split into two columns.

In [8]:
pd.options.mode.chained_assignment = None  # default='warn'
df['PubYear'] = df['Publisher'].str.extract('(\d\d\d\d)', expand=True)          # regex is confusing
df['Publisher'] = df['Publisher'].str.extract('(((?!\d).)*)', expand=True)

Improve the format of the ‘Date’ column:

In [9]:
df['Date'] = pd.to_datetime(df['Date'], errors='coerce')

The data frame is now in the columns I want it to be in, and the top 5 rows are:

In [10]:
df.head()
Out[10]:
Location Subject Title Author Publisher ISBN? Shelf Pages Price Value Date PubYear
0 HR Islam The Islamic Invasion R Morey Harvest HP 0 89081 983 1 17cm 221 3.00 8.00 2008-04-01 1960
1 HR Word lists New Testament Word Lists Morrison & Barnes Erdmans 0 8028 1141 8 NaN 125 3.00 NaN 2008-04-01 1975
2 HR Theology: Salvation The Triumph of the crucified E Sauer Paternoster NaN NaN 207 3.00 10.00 2008-04-01 1952
3 HR Early Fathers Ante-Nicene Christian Library Ed Menzies T&T Clark NaN NaN 533 9.00 NaN 2010-03-01 1897
4 HR Apologetics Earth’s earliest ages G.H. Pember H & S NaN NaN 494 3.00 NaN 2008-04-01 1895

Insights

Distribution of books by year published:

The bar chart below shows how many books in the library were published in a given decade. The list below shows the 5 oldest books.

In [11]:
pd.options.display.float_format = '{:,}'.format
df.PubYear = pd.to_numeric(df.PubYear, errors='ignore')
fig = df.groupby(df.PubYear // 10 * 10).size().plot(kind='bar', xlim=[1000,2016], logy = False)
fig.set_xlabel("Decade of Publication")
fig.set_ylabel("Number of Books")
fig
Out[11]:
<matplotlib.axes._subplots.AxesSubplot at 0x10501f2b0>

View the 5 oldest titles:

In [12]:
df['PubYear'] = df['PubYear'].fillna(0.0).astype(int)
df2 = df[df['PubYear'] != 0.0]
df2.sort_values(by='PubYear').head()
Out[12]:
Location Subject Title Author Publisher ISBN? Shelf Pages Price Value Date PubYear
4753 Lib NaN In Christ’s own country Dom Ernest Graf Burns Oates NaN Sh.4.5 302 Gift NaN 1999-07-30 1037
3043 StM NaN The First Epistle of Peter C.E.B. Cranfield SCM Press interesting Sh.5.5 128 NaN NaN NaT 1050
4574 Lib Music Score Easy-Play Speed Music; waltz clas NaN Sight & Sound NaN Sh.4.4 47 99P NaN NaT 1076
7184 25A NaN The Noble Qur’an transl Al-Hilali & Khan Madinah NaN Sh.3.6 956 3.0 NaN 2010-12-10 1417
3296 Lib NaN Chained Bible NaN Chris Barker Very incomplete Sh.1.1 NaN NaN NaN NaT 1585

List the number of books in each location:

In [13]:
df3 = df
df3["Location"] = df3["Location"].astype(str).map(str.strip).str.upper().str.slice(0,5)
df3.groupby(df3.Location).size().sort_values(ascending=False)
Out[13]:
Location
25A      3411
LIB      2457
CH       1088
ST9      1000
STM       886
HR        305
NAN        29
ST.M        3
HR          2
ST M        1
SA          1
LB          1
CH          1
:LIB        1
dtype: int64

Create a list of the differnet subjects, order the list by the most frequent subjects:

In [14]:
df4 = df
df4["Subject"] = df4["Subject"].astype(str).map(str.strip).str.upper()
df4.groupby(df4.Subject).size().sort_values(ascending=False).head(50)
Out[14]:
Subject
NAN                            6208
COMMENTARY                       61
LOCAL HISTORY                    58
SERMONS                          41
THE CENTURY BIBLE                37
THEOLOGY                         36
CHRISTIAN BIOGRAPHY              34
BIOGRAPHY                        31
NT COMMENTARY                    31
HEBREW GRAMMAR                   30
SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST         30
POETRY                           29
CLARK'S FOREIGN THEOL LIB        28
GENERAL EDIT ANTONIA FRAZER      25
NOVEL                            24
WRITERS AND THEIR WORK           24
CATALOGUE                        22
AUTOBIOGRAPHY                    20
OT COMMENTARY                    19
GREEK                            19
THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE            18
SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM                18
THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD            18
PHOTOGRAPHS                      17
GREAT MUSEUMS OF T WORLD         15
CHURCH HISTORY                   14
DAILY READINGS                   14
CHRISTIAN LECTURES               14
NOTES ON THE CATHEDRALS          14
INTERNATIONAL CRITICAL COMM      13
ARAMAIC                          13
THE CLARENDON BIBLE              13
FICTION - CADFAEL                13
CLARK'S FOREIGN THEOL LIB.       13
APOLOGETICS                      12
PSALMS                           12
THE CAMBRIDGE BIBLE              12
PRAYER                           12
LIFE LIBRARY OF PHOTOGRAPHY      11
COMMENTARY ON HOLY SCRIPT        11
THE MASTERPIECE LIBRARY          11
COMMENTARY ON THE O.T.           10
HYMNS                            10
POEMS                            10
MYSTICISM                        10
DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE          10
EXHIBITION CATALOGUE             10
POETICAL WORKS OF TENNYSON       10
DICTIONARY                       10
HISTORY                          10
dtype: int64

Create a list of authors in the library. Order the list by number of books:

In [15]:
df5 = df
df5["Author"] = df5["Author"].astype(str).map(str.strip).str.upper() #.str.slice(0,20)
df5.groupby(df5.Author).size().sort_values(ascending=False).head(50)
Out[15]:
Author
NAN                     915
VARIOUS                  31
BHAKTIVEDANTA S PRAB     19
C.H. SPURGEON            19
ELLIS PETERS             17
ED. RABBI I. EPSTEIN     17
LESLIE WEATHERHEAD       15
ED CARLO RAGGHIANTI      15
ALBERT BARNES            14
JAMES HASTINGS           13
GEORGE ADAM SMITH        13
WILLIAM TEMPLE           12
JAMES MOFFATT            11
ED J A HAMMERTON         11
KEIL & DELITZSCH         11
WILLIAM BARCLAY          10
SHAKESPEARE              10
PETER ACKROYD            10
IAN WILSON                9
CHARLES DICKENS           9
BERNHARD WEISS            9
J.B. PHILLIPS             9
ED QUENNELL & HODGE       8
CHARLES GORE              8
H.V. MORTON               8
M.F. SADLER               8
VARIOUS AUTHORS           8
ED ANDREW LANG            8
GEZA VERMES               8
S.R. DRIVER               8
EVELYN UNDERHILL          8
"                         8
HENRY ALFORD              7
ALDOUS HUXLEY             7
ED JAMES HASTINGS         7
ED ARTHUR MEE             7
ROY STRONG                7
ALEXANDER MACLAREN        7
MARCUS DODS               7
JOACHIM JEREMIAS          6
THOMAS WRIGHT             6
ED R. CROMARTY            6
SUSAN GLYN                6
DAVID FOUNTAIN            6
WILLIAM WHISTON           6
C.S. LEWIS                6
BARRIE TRINDER            6
DAVID TRUMPER             6
G. CAMPBELL MORGAN        6
ALISTER MCGRATH           6
dtype: int64

Distribution of book length by number of pages:

In [16]:
def blank_or_number(s): 
    try:
        s1 = round(float(s),2)
        return s1
    except ValueError:
        return ''
    
    
df.Pages = df.Pages.map(lambda f : blank_or_number(f)) 
df6 = df.Pages[df.Pages != '']

plt.xticks(np.arange(0, 2000, 100.0))
fig = df6.hist(bins=100, range=[0, 2000])
fig.set_xlabel("Number of Pages")
fig.set_ylabel("Number of Books")
Out[16]:
<matplotlib.text.Text at 0x10585b3c8>

Query an ISBN database to find missing data:

Lastly, I thought it would be a fun challenge to fill in gaps in the data. The table below shows rows with ISBN number but missing either Author, Title or Publisher.

It turns out that there are only 10 rows that meet this criteria, and in all cases it is the publisher that is missing.

In [17]:
df7 = df[(df['ISBN?'].notnull()) & ((df['Author'] == '') | (df['Title'] == '') | (df['Publisher'] == ''))]
df7
Out[17]:
Location Subject Title Author Publisher ISBN? Shelf Pages Price Value Date PubYear
1430 ST9 BIOGRAPHY OF SCIENTIST Longitude (John Harrison) DAVA SOBEL 1 85702 571 7 Sh.1.2 184.0 5.99 NaN NaT 1998
2707 STM DEVOTIONAL! Romans: Momentous News DAVID COOK 978 1 906173241 Sh.3.4 55.0 1.0 NaN 2011-07-28 2011
3874 LIB NAN Annie’s Box - Darwin’s daughter RANDAL KEYNES 1 84115 060 6 Sh.2.4 331.0 3.99 NaN 2002-07-20 2001
4705 LIB HISTORICAL NOVEL Galileo’s Daughter DAVA SOBEL 1 85702 861 9 Sh.4.5 429.0 NaN NaN 2002-09-27 1999
5949 25A NAN Short Life Long Times of Mrs Beeton KATHRYN HUGHES 1 84115 373 7 Sh.1.4 525.0 £2.50P NaN 2012-02-09 2005
6008 25A NAN Signs in the Sky (Birth of a New Age ADRIAN GILBERT 0 609 80793 5 Sh.1.5 329.0 4.0 NaN 2012-03-07 2001
6097 25A NAN Isaac Newton, the last Sorcerer MICHAEL WHITE 1 85702 706 X Sh.1.6 403.0 £1.50P NaN 2012-02-09 1997
6663 25A NAN Live Wires - powerful stories of cha D. J. CARSWELL 978 1 906173 13 5 Sh.2.7 124.0 1.0 NaN 2011-06-29 2010
8640 25A KING ARTHUR QUINCENTENARY One in Specyal ED SIDNEY HART 0 948485 00 0 Sh.5.9 145.0 £2.49P NaN 2003-06-28 1985
8845 25A NAN The Order of St John - a short history E L EDMONDS 0 947718 07 9 Sh.5.7b 35.0 £3.75P NaN NaT 1986
In [18]:
from isbnlib import *
from isbnlib.config import * 
from isbnlib.registry import * 
import bibtexparser

def has_isbn(isbn):
    SERVICE = 'isbndb'
    APIKEY = 'IZXL3ESD'  # YOUR key
    add_apikey(SERVICE, APIKEY) # register your key
    bibtex = bibformatters['bibtex']
    isbn = clean(isbn)
    try:
        a = bibtex(meta(EAN13(isbn), SERVICE))
        return a
    except:
        return 'isbn is invalid'
In [19]:
def get_pub(isbn):
    bibtex_str = has_isbn(isbn)
    try:
        bib_db = bibtexparser.loads(bibtex_str)
        dic = bib_db.entries[0]
        return dic['publisher']
    except:
        return
In [20]:
df7['ISBN?'] = df7['ISBN?'].astype(str)
df7.Publisher = df7['ISBN?'].map(lambda f : get_pub(f))

The table below shows the results of the isbnlib query. I thought it odd that all the ‘missing’ publishers names began with a number. It turns out that the regex method I used to split publisher name and year of publication into separate columns doesnt work when there are numbers in the publishers name. Rather than go back and correct this, I’ll leave the script as it is to show how to use the isbnlib library.

In [21]:
df7
Out[21]:
Location Subject Title Author Publisher ISBN? Shelf Pages Price Value Date PubYear
1430 ST9 BIOGRAPHY OF SCIENTIST Longitude (John Harrison) DAVA SOBEL Fourth Estate 1 85702 571 7 Sh.1.2 184.0 5.99 NaN NaT 1998
2707 STM DEVOTIONAL! Romans: Momentous News DAVID COOK 10Publishing 978 1 906173241 Sh.3.4 55.0 1.0 NaN 2011-07-28 2011
3874 LIB NAN Annie’s Box - Darwin’s daughter RANDAL KEYNES 4th Estate 1 84115 060 6 Sh.2.4 331.0 3.99 NaN 2002-07-20 2001
4705 LIB HISTORICAL NOVEL Galileo’s Daughter DAVA SOBEL Fourth Estate 1 85702 861 9 Sh.4.5 429.0 NaN NaN 2002-09-27 1999
5949 25A NAN Short Life Long Times of Mrs Beeton KATHRYN HUGHES None 1 84115 373 7 Sh.1.4 525.0 £2.50P NaN 2012-02-09 2005
6008 25A NAN Signs in the Sky (Birth of a New Age ADRIAN GILBERT Three Rivers Press 0 609 80793 5 Sh.1.5 329.0 4.0 NaN 2012-03-07 2001
6097 25A NAN Isaac Newton, the last Sorcerer MICHAEL WHITE Fourth Estate 1 85702 706 X Sh.1.6 403.0 £1.50P NaN 2012-02-09 1997
6663 25A NAN Live Wires - powerful stories of cha D. J. CARSWELL None 978 1 906173 13 5 Sh.2.7 124.0 1.0 NaN 2011-06-29 2010
8640 25A KING ARTHUR QUINCENTENARY One in Specyal ED SIDNEY HART Three Golden Crowns 0 948485 00 0 Sh.5.9 145.0 £2.49P NaN 2003-06-28 1985
8845 25A NAN The Order of St John - a short history E L EDMONDS s.n 0 947718 07 9 Sh.5.7b 35.0 £3.75P NaN NaT 1986