LIBRARY USERS 43

Fourthly, there is a relationship between the use of the li-
brary and the distance separating the user from it.”” In every
case, the closer people live to a public library, the more they
use it (Table 22). Thus, assuming that the composition of the
population does not vary with distance from the public li-
brary, proximity is a major factor in determining library use.
Library users themselves are quite conscious of this influence:
in one survey (Field & Peacock, 1948), fully 76 percent of re-
spondents indicated that they used a particular branch library

TABLE 22

ApuLt Grours ReGISTERED WITH OR UsINg THE PusLIic
LiBrRARY BY RESIDENTIAL DisTANCE FrOM IT,
ADAPTED FROM VARIOUS STUDIES

PERCENTAGES
Distance  PERSONS REGISTERED USERS
from @ —oo — -
Public Horuwitz, 1933°
Library, Wert Ulveling SRC* MAIN URBAN  SUBURBAN SRC°
in Blocks 1937 1939 1948 LIBRARY BRANCHES BRANCHES 7948
1-5 35 15 35 30 47 83 34
6-7 27 13 33 24 28 55 } 28
8-11 22 II 25 20 40
12-15 27 9 ; ” 22 9 19
16-19 3 i 22 & 0 } =
Bo& over - .. 5 ; 3 15 i G 8
TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES
Not Not Not Not Not
given given given given given

“The distances are: up to % mile; % to % mile; 1 to 2 miles; more than

2 miles.

*The distances are: up to % mile; from % to % mile; from ) to % mile;

from % to 1 mile; from 1 to 1% miles; and from 1% to 2 miles.

“The distances are: up to % mile; % to % mile; 1 to 5 miles; 6 miles and :
over.

A recent survey based on a national sample of respondents indicated that
about one half of the adult population lived within a mile of a public library.
This finding, based on the respondents’ own testimony, was later con-