22 LIBRARY USERS

school age. In Chicago the drop was even sharper.® Another
study made in the same city revealed that go percent of a sam-
ple of recent high school graduates (girls) who were nonusers
of the public library had had library cards when they were
students, but had let them lapse in the three to four years since
they had left school.” Whether this condition is simply a re-
flection of or a reaction against the reading requirements of
the formal school system, or whether it results from lack of
time because of employment or marital and family responsi-
bilities, there is, in any case, a sharp drop in library use at the
school-leaving age. The public library retains only a small
part of its younger users after they have entered adulthood.

Cuart 1

Ture Use or Pusric LiBRARIES BY DIFFERENT
Aee Groups (CHILDREN AND ADULTS)

  

o
w
[+ 4
w
-
2z
$§ w
™ °&

- v
o-;x.. 3*
- zax
w3 wa
2 g
w ue
a aJd

6-15 16-20 21 & OVER 6-15 16-20 21 8 QVER
AGE GROUP AGE GROUP
Data from: Joeckel & Carnovsky, 1940. Data from SRC, 1948

Although libraries are used less by children after they leave
school, still the major body of adult library users consists of the
younger adults. In comparison with older groups of adult
users, the younger adult group make up the largest proportion

Joeckel and Carnovsky, 1940.
"Clarke, 1945.