LIBRARY USERS 23

both relatively (Table 6) and absolutely (Table 7). In almost
every case younger adults make more use of the public library
than do older adults. Thus, under present conditions the pub-
lic library attracts a progressively smaller proportion of peo-
ple in each successive higher age level. By and large, the
older the people, the less they use the public library (Table
8). Although the proportions may vary, perhaps half of the
adult library users are under thirty-five years of age. The fail-
ure of older people to use the public library may be due to
physical handicaps (for example, eyestrain) or to a depleted
energy level or to a desire to avoid the attractions of new ex-
perience. To a large extent, however, this age composition of
the library clientele expresses another personal characteristic,
education. Because of recent extensions of public education,
the younger people have had more formal schooling than their
elders, and their greater relative use of public libraries reflects
this condition. As the years pass, this differential may even

TABLE 6

DirrereNt AGE Grouprs (Apurts) Using THE PusLic
LiBrARY, ADAPTED FROM VARIOUS STUDIES®

PERCENTAGES
NORC
Link & (Regis- Field &
Age Kaplan Berelson  Hopf tration) Peacock Berelson SRC
Group 1943 1945 1946 1946 1948 1948 1948
Young 37 31 31 37 37 30 22
Middle 24 22 27 34 29 14
Old 18 19 3 2 23 19 14
TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES
Not
Young 2,321 166 493  given 295 368 657
Not
Middle 1,766 200 179  given 331 385 310
Not

Old 914 135 219  given 374 270 183