WHY PEOPLE USE THE LIBRARY 59

clientele. Thus, the public library is by far the major lender
of nonfiction books.

But the relative circulation of different kinds of books from
the public library is obviously a function of its holdings. A
library which holds no fiction will circulate none; and a li-
brary which holds nothing but fiction will circulate nothing
else. Thus, the nature of the circulation in these categories is

TaABLE 29

Kinps or Books SuppLiep To ApULTS BY VARIOUS AGENCIES
IN Previous WEEK

PERCENTAGES
Purchase, Book Club,
Kind of Public Gift, Own Friends, Lending
Book Library Library Relatives Library Other Total
Popular fiction 31 29 44 40 38 34
Popular nonfiction 32 32 30 22 23 30
Classical & superior
fiction, & nonficuon,
literary masterpieces 15 10 17 20 21 14
Textbooks, research 22 29 9 18 18 22

TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES

131 232 115 45. 53 576
Source: Adapted from Field & Peacock, 1948.

‘influenced to some extent by the nature of the hbrary s book
stock. Although there is little evidence on this point, it ap-
pears that the library distributes a much higher proportion
of fiction than the proportion of fiction in the holdings.
Almost two thirds of the circulation is fiction, but it is alto-
gether unlikely that more than half the book stock of the
average public library is composed of fiction.®

A survey of the 281 libraries in the state of Illinois (Illinois State Library,
1935) showed that the average proportion of a book collection composed
of fiction ranged from 22 percent in the libraries in the largest communities
(over 110,000 population) to 45 percent in the libraries in the smallest
communities (1,000 and under).