TRENDS IN USE 91

crease in book purchases: for example, in 1929 bookstore
sales totaled $116,000,000, as against $67,000,000 for 1935
and $74,000,000 for 1939 (U.S. Census of Business, Vol. I,
Retail Trade, 1939). Thus, book reading may be more or

Cuart 1V

TreENDS oF PusLic LiBRARY REGISTRATION AND CIRCULATION
1930-35

150

s REGISTRATION
1930=100 o= === CIRCULATION

140

 

130

 

120

 

INDEX NUMBER

1o

 

Data from Herdman, 1943.

less constant under the impact of economic fluctuations and
only the sources may vary.

Loans of fiction and nonfiction both increase, but the
latter relatively more than the former (Chart V).* Similarly,
the falling curve of gross circulation in Illinois libraries since

*An independent study of selected branches in Chicago and St. Louis (Ells-
worth, 1937) showed no significant proportional increase in the circulation
of books on social problems during this period.