A trade yearbook is a gift when the table is split by region, size, and unit. It is a trap when a single average is printed in bold and the splits are in a footnote. We keep yearbooks on the shelf. We do not copy the bold line onto a plate without reading the footnote.
Start at the definition
Before the table, there is usually a paragraph that says what was counted. Beds or rooms. Litres bottled or litres in bulk. Permits issued or permits requested. If your book uses a different definition, the yearbook is not your neighbour. It may still be a useful appendix.
Prefer the split to the headline
If Imereti is a row, use the row. If “small house” is a column, use the column. The national headline exists for speeches. Speeches are not studies.
Watch the year of the table
Yearbooks arrive late. A 2024 volume may still be a 2022 table. Mixing that table with your 2025 night book without a date in the caption is how a house acquires an imaginary recovery.
When we use a yearbook at the desk
We use it to propose a neighbour, to check a unit, and to quote a published figure that a ministry already trusts. We do not use it to override a cooperative’s own book when the cooperative counted carefully. Published is not the same as truer. It is the same as citable.
Bring the volume if you have it. Bring the page number. If you only have a sentence someone repeated from a conference, we will look up the table before we let that sentence onto a plate.