104 CONCENTRATION OF USE

library service reached the various groups constituting the
community by comparing the distribution of four major per-
sonal characteristics (4) in the adult population, (4) in the
total library clientele, and (¢) in the group of most frequent
borrowers, that is, the top 20 percent, who withdrew almost
three fourths of the total adult circulation (Table 38).°
Briefly, the characteristics analyzed were these:

Sex: In both 1945 and 1947, the proportion of women who
were borrowers from the library was greater than their pro-
portion in the adult population at large, and their proportion
among the frequent borrowers was still greater.

Age: The representation of the different age groups among
the total borrowers differed in 1945 and 1947, but in both
years the older groups in this particular library were more
heavily represented among frequent users of the library than
the younger groups. (Presumably because of the return of
members of the armed services, the 1947 library clientele in-
cluded more men and more younger people than the 1945
group. In regard to age, the Montclair Library is probably
not typical of other public libraries in this pattern of con-
centration.)

Education: The relation of education to library use differed
from that of age in the following way: the distinction for
age groups was found between the total borrowers and the
frequent borrowers; that for education appeared between the
population and the total borrowers. Those with less schooling
did not use the library much, but those who did, used it about
as frequently as those with more schooling.

Occupation: The professional and managerial groups were
over-represented in both the total clientele and in the group
of most frequent users of the library. Housewives were about
°It is unfortunate that the distribution of these characteristics in the adult

registration, as a group between the adult population and the borrowers, was
not available for comparison at this point.