WHY PEOPLE USE THE LIBRARY 67

provided more often by nonlibrary sources was 4 (on a scale
. of 6) as compared with an average of 2.3 for the books pro-
vided more often by the public library.** This is probably
due, to a large extent, to the provision of “good” books by
the home collection. People tend to buy more of the “better”
books for permanent display and use and to borrow more of
the “poorer” and “lighter” titles from agencies such as the
public library and the rental library. In a comparative study
within the same community, the public library provided
about as much “high-level” fiction as did the rental library
and only slightly less “low-level” fiction.*

Percentage Percentage
“Quality” from from
Level of Public Rental
Fiction Library Library
High 33 33
Medium 55 49
Low 12 18

TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES

217 168
Source: Cole, 1948.

What about children and young people? Is the case for
“quality” different there? Concerning this the data are also
fragmentary and inconclusive. On the one hand there is a find-
ing in one study® that children get more of their “better”

*These data, it should be noted, were secured in a metropolitan region not
particularly distinguished for its reading level or its library service. Accord-
ingly, this should not be taken as “representative.”

*The relatively high distribution of “quality” in this particular study is due
to the classification of “quality” within each type of novel. Thus, distinc-
tions were made between high, medium, and low detective stories; high,
medium, and low love and romance; and so forth. Such a classification does
not correspond to the usual ranking of “quality” level by rigorous literary
standards applied to all titles regardless of type. Incidentally, the rental li-
brary in this study is a well-stocked, well-administered agency.

*Shea, 1938.