40 LIBRARY USERS

made comparing the use of libraries by Negroes and whites
under similar circumstances, that is, when both library facili-
ties and education are controlled. The best hypothesis would
be that in communities which provide public library service to
Negroes of moderate or high education, they make as full use
of the library as do white people of the same levels of edu-
cation.

In a survey of demonstration libraries in eleven Southern
counties,* the proportion of white people registered with the
library was about three times that of Negroes (38 to 12 per-
cent). In addition, there was a differential between the two
groups with regard to circulation. Although Negroes made up
about one third of the population, they withdrew only about
one tenth of the whole number of books withdrawn. In short,
Negroes used the public library less than did the whites, even
when library facilities were more or less equally available,
largely because they had had less schooling.

RESIDENCE The relationship of residence to library use
takes four forms. In the first place, there is a differential in li-
brary use by region of the country (Table 19). The wealthier
regions and those with a better educated population make
greater use of the public library than the poorer ones and
those with a lower-educated population. For example, public
library use is extensive on the Pacific Coast where both the in-
come level and the level of schooling are relatively high. In a
recent nation-wide survey (SRC, 1948), in which only two
regions could be statistically differentiated, about 21 percent
of the people in the North had used a public library during
the past year as compared with only ¢ percent of the people in
the South. To some extent, this differential may also be attrib-
uted to climatic factors.

Secondly, there is a relationship between rural-urban resi-
*Wilson and Wight, 1935.