6 COMMUNICATION AND READING

order to provide the proper perspective for a description of
public library service. ;
BOOK READING RELATED TO OTHER MEDIA Just how exten-
sive is the reading of books relative to the other major forms
of communication exposure? Data on this question not only
indicate the gross amount of book reading compared to other
sources of public information, but also suggest the limits
within which public library service operates, in large part, at
the present time. This comparison can be made only in rough
terms, but from several recent studies® the picture of public
exposure to the major media of communication in the United
States today may be described somewhat as follows:* about
25-30 percent of the adult population reads one or more
books a month; about 45-50 percent of the adult population
sees a motion picture once every two weeks or oftener; about
6o—70 percent of the adult population reads one or more
magazines more or less regularly; about 85—9o percent of the
adult population reads one or more newspapers more or less
regularly; about go—95 percent of the adult population listens
to the radio fifteen minutes a day or more. Of the five major
public media of communication, book reading is the most lim-
ited in terms of total population.* Almost everybody listens to

*For example, Survey Research Center, University of Michigan, 1948;
Lazarsfeld & Kendall, 1948; Lazarsfeld & Field, 1946; Magazine Advertising
Bureau, 1948.
*Exposure to two minor media of communication are recorded by SRC,
1948:

Have read government bulletins at some time—48 percent

Attended speech or talk during preceding year—21 percent

‘Although the samples and methods of investigation are not comparable,
some data suggest that the United States ranks low as a book-reading coun-
try. The results must be interpreted with some caution, because in all likeli-
hood the samples from which the data were secured represent a higher
proportion of better educated people than would be found in the population
at large. Accordingly, these figures are likely to be somewhat inflated. They
are included here mainly for completeness. The percentages reading one
or more books per month are as follows: Canada (1945): 40 percent (from