62 WHY PEOPLE USE THE LIBRARY

there is relatively little predominance of recent publications
in the book loans. It took nearly four and one half years of
publication to supply about one half the circulation.” In the
Montclair survey more than one half the circulation was pro-
vided by publications appearing within the preceding twenty-
two months. This figure may be weighted on the side of re-
cency because this relatively wealthy library can supply its
clientele with several copies of the latest titles.

In both cases, (1) there was a consistent decline in the cir-
culation as books grew older. That is, the publications of
each year between 1930 and 1939 provided only 1 to 2 per-
cent of the library’s circulation in 1947, and a still lower pro-
portion for those of the 1920s and earlier, as against a much
higher proportion for the 1940 publications. (2) The circu-
lation of recent fiction titles was much more pronounced than
that of nonfiction titles. “The latest novel” was a major com-
ponent of the circulation. (3) About one fourth of the cir-
culation of these public libraries in 1947 consisted of books
dated earlier than 1940, and about 10 percent earlier than
1930. If the assumption is accepted that most “classics” origi-
nally appeared before 1930, then this figure represents the
upper limit of the circulation of such titles. Presumably such
earlier titles constitute a stable, though small, portion of the
total public library’s circulation. (4) The turnover of recent
titles in the library’s collection was much heavier than that of
other titles. The annual acquisitions of the average public
library are only about 6 to 7 percent of its total book stock,:
yet the proportion of circulated titles published within a cur-:
rent year is many times that figure. |

Thus, there is a strong tendency for the public library to
“The public library branch circulated much more older material than a ‘
rental library in the area, which, of course, specialized in timely titles. Fully
18 percent of the rental library’s circulation was composed of books pub-

lished within the month, 77 percent of books published within the preceding
five months, and about go percent of books published within a year.