5
]

4

70 WHY R EOPLE "USE, THE 'LIBRARY

only smaller in volume than its circulation service, but their
clientele is also more specialized. What does the reference
service consist of? Are reference questions stimulated by the
latest popular puzzle or quiz program, or are they serious
questions dealing with some “educational” concern? Only a
few studies of the reference service of the public library have
been made, not nearly enough for a full-scale review of the
topic. Especially does this service vary in libraries of different
sizes: the reference service of the Economics Division of the
New York Public Library and of the Science and Technology
Department of the Cleveland Public Library differs widely
from the information service which would be offered by the
public library in a town of 25,000. The available studies,

which are limited both in their coverage and in the problems

with which they deal, are concerned largely with the classi-
fication of reference questions by type and subject matter.
Very few data exist on the composition of reference service
in terms of the purposes to which answers were put or in
terms of their “social value.”

We have seen that young people make up a large part of the
clientele of the public library’s reference department. Their
use of its services can be simply described: it derives directly
from school assignments. As the subjects of the assignments
change, the reference service changes accordingly, but it is

constantly related to school work. In this respect also the

nature of public library service depends upon the quality of
school library service and the administrative arrangements
between the public library and the school system. But in gen-
eral, the reference service to this large portion of the clien-
tele of the public library serves as a supplement to the school
in the preparation of assignments, the writing of themes, the
review for examinations, and so forth.

TYPES OF ADULT REFERENCE SERVICE Most of the reference
service to adults is of a “fact-finding” nature (Table 32).