X11 FOREWORD

communication and enlightenment. It is the latter view regard-
ing the modern function of the public library that the Public
Library Inquiry has taken as its hypothesis to verify or to dis-
prove. For the hypothesis the Berelson analysis adds strong
support.

Logically, the kinds of people who use the public library
and what they use it for do not finally determine the services
the library might perform. But an institution is more than a
logical construct. If it has life, it is akin to an organism whose
parts (its personnel, plant, habits, and faiths) are adapted to a
general purpose. And one will ponder long before seeking
radically to refashion it to serve different persons and uses.

Rosert D. LEIGH

New York
June, 1949