WHY PEOPLE USE THE LIBRARY 83

the minority of library users. Perhaps inadequate service to
as many as one quarter of the clientele represents a serious
deficiency of the public library, which aims for perfection in
its service. What are the major dissatisfactions or complaints
of the clientele? Are they matters over which the librarian
has some reasonable control or not? The client’s dissatisfac-
tion with library service, when expressed, centers upon one
major concern: more or different books. Other complaints or
suggestions cover a wide variety of topics with no particular

TaBLE 35

SatisractioNn witH PusLic LiBRARY SERVICE, ADAPTED FROM SEV-
ERAL STUDIES

PERCENTAGE OF LIBRARY USERS

Field &
Degree of Haygood James NORC  Peacock SRC
Satisfaction 1938 1941 1946 1948 1948
Completely satisfied “A little
over half” 75 75 8o 70
Partially or occa- “Overa
sionally satisfied  third” 8 25 16 14
Not satisfied 14 17 5
No answer 4 II
TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES
Over About
16,000 6,986 400 608 228

concentration on any one, and probably reflect local condi-
tions causing dissatisfaction with a particular library. In all
these studies, the overwhelming majority of unsatisfied de-
mands was due to inadequacy of the book collection of the
library. The library’s book stock is, of course, basically af-
fected by its book budget. Limited budgets, restricting both
the number of copies and the variety of the book collection,