OwnershipTracker: a Visual Analytics Approach to Uncovering Historical Book Ownership Patterns

Ownership relationships of early printed books from the 15th century reveal complex patterns of distribution and possession, offering valuable insights for historical research. This paper presents OwnershipTracker, a visual analytics application developed to explore and trace these relationships usi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on visualization and computer graphics Vol. PP; pp. 1 - 11
Main Authors: Xing, Yiwen, Ji, Meilai, Dondi, Cristina, Abdul-Rahman, Alfie
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States IEEE 19.11.2025
Subjects:
Collaboration
Complexity theory
Data visualization
Design study
human-centered design
Iterative methods
Libraries
Marine vehicles
Testing
Visual analytics
Visual databases
visualization application
ISSN:1077-2626, 1941-0506, 1941-0506
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Ownership relationships of early printed books from the 15th century reveal complex patterns of distribution and possession, offering valuable insights for historical research. This paper presents OwnershipTracker, a visual analytics application developed to explore and trace these relationships using data from the Material Evidence in Incunabula (MEI) database. OwnershipTracker integrates bibliographic records, copy-specific data, and book provenance and ownership details, enabling users to uncover intricate ownership sequences over time. The application combines several visualization techniques, including network graphs to map connections between owners, timelines for temporal analysis, chord diagrams to quantify transfer patterns, and a distinctive, collaboratively designed spiderweb-like diagram highlighting converging and dispersing ownership transfers through specific owners. Developed iteratively with input from historical book researchers, the application underwent multiple refinements to align with domain research requirements. A summative evaluation with domain experts showcased the tool's ability to address the defined requirements and tasks. The final version of OwnershipTracker is deployed and accessible at: https://booktracker.nms.kcl.ac.uk/ownership.
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ISSN:1077-2626
1941-0506
1941-0506
DOI:10.1109/TVCG.2025.3634653