e

100 CONCENTRATION OF USE

frequencies with which people use the public library, they do
establish the fact of wide variation in use of the library by
those classified as ‘“users.”

The rate of book borrowing clearly illustrates this variation.
During a year, and even over a two-week period, the users of
the circulation department of the public library withdraw
books at highly unequal rates (Chart XI). The available data

CuarT XI

CoNcCENTRATION OF Book BorrowiNG BY PuBric LiBrary UsERrs
ovER DIFFERENT TIME PERIODS, ADAPTED FROM VARIOUS STUDIES

 

——
=
P
e
gt
ol

*
+

WAPLES, 1933
bt FA|R‘ |935

FIELD & PEACOCK
1948

PERCENTAGE OF BORROWING

MONTHS

e WAPLES; 1932
MONTCLAIR, 1945
MONTCLAIR, 1947

PTG | ey~

 

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
PERCENTAGE OF USERS

suggest that about 10 percent of the borrowers withdraw al-
most one third of the books during the two-week period and
that just over one fifth of the users take out one half of the
books. This tendency toward concentration in use, apparent
over a short-time period, is accentuated when the time is