102 CONCENTRATION OF USE

the lower proportion of the population registered with the
library in 1947 as against 1945 and in the higher proportions
of the 1947 registration accounting for each specified cate-
gory of use. In the earlier year, less than one half the regis-
trants actually borrowed books from the library, compared
with just under three fourths of the reglstrants in 1947 (Table
37). In both years, concentration in the use of the library’s
circulation facilities is apparent: about three fourths of the
books were borrowed by less than 5 percent of the adult
population, 10 to 12 percent of the registrants, and about 20
percent of the actual borrowers.* One half of the books cir-
culated were taken out by about 2 percent of the population,
5 percent of the registration, and 8 percent of the borrowers.
At the other extreme, some 8o percent of the actual borrow-
ers during the year accounted for only about one quarter
of the books circulated. In short, actual use was not dis-
tributed evenly among the registrants, and frequency of use
was not distributed evenly among the actual users. In quanti-
tative terms, then, the public library spends a major part of
its resources and effort in the service of a relatively small
segment of its potential clientele.*

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ‘“HEAVY’ LIBRARY USERS
What kind of people, in terms of personal characteristics,
make up this relatively small group of “heavy” library users?
The Montclair study shows the extent to which public

*Similar concentration in use over a period of only three months was found
in a2 much larger community, Los Angeles. According to a sample survey,
about 21 percent of the adult population accounted for the total circulation,
9 percent for three fourths of the circulation, 6 percent for two thirds of the
circulation, and 4 percent for about half the circulation (Field & Peacock,
1948).

‘It would be interesting to secure similar data for other institutions, both
public (such as the museum, or the zoo, or the park system, or the clinic)
and private (such as the bowling alley, or the rental library, or the major
department store). It is likely that the concentration of use for most of these
institutions would also be heavy.