COMMUNICATION AND READING 7

the radio, but only one person in four reads a book a month.
Thus, a limit is placed upon public library service at once, as
only a part of the adult population can be considered (by this
definition) “book readers.” If the definition is extended to in-
clude everyone who has read one or more books in a year,
then almost one half of the adult population qualifies. In either
case, however, “book reading” is not an activity of the major-
ity of Americans today.’

Public Opinion Quarterly, summer, 1945, p. 238); Britain (1946): 45 per-
cent (from Public Opinion Quarterly, winter, 1946—47, p. 638); Czechoslo-
vakia (1947): 65 percent (from Opinion News, Dec. 1, 1947). According to
the International Gallup Poll, 1948, the following proportions in various
countries spent “the preceding evening” reading: Denmark, 23 percent;
Sweden, 21 percent; Norway, 21 percent; France, 21 percent; Canada, 19

pexicent-, Holland, 17 percent; United States, 16 percent; Britain, 11 percent;
Italy, 5 percent.

*Two recent surveys based upon national cross-sectional samples reasonably
well agree as to the incidence of monthly book reading in the adult popula-
tion.

PERCENTAGES
Number of Books Read - SRC Lazarsfeld & Kendall
During One Month 1948 1948
None 70 75
One 13 8
Two or three 8 11
Four or more 8 6
No answer I o
TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES
II5I 3:459

Because of the socially desirable and prestige-bearing status of book read-
ing in this country, it seems fair to assume that these figures indicate an
~ upper limit to the amount of such reading.

The incidence of book reading per year is reported by SRC, 1948:

NUMBER OF BOOKS PERCENTAGES
None 48
One to four 18
Five to fourteen 16
Fifteen to forty-nine 9
Fifty or more 7
No answer 2

These data depend upon the respondent’s memory and are thus subject to
an additional inflation or other inaccuracy.