T

110 CONCENTRATION OF USE

reading, even though it does exist, is restricted to relatively
small limits.

Various kinds of books are read differently. A book of fic-
tion is a unit in itself; it is meant to be read in its entirety. But
books of nonfiction are not necessarily wholes, and only a
section, a chapter, or even, for purposes of specific informa-
tion, a page may be read appropriately. Whereas the partial
reading of fiction books implies a dislike or criticism of the
content, the partial reading of much nonfiction does not. In
both of these studies it was clear that in practice fiction was
read completely much more often than was nonfiction. Only
from 15 to 25 percent of the fiction was not read in its entirety,
but from one half to two thirds of the nonfiction followed this
pattern. Not only does the public library circulate more fic-
tion than nonfiction, but the fiction is actually read more than
the nonfiction.”® And the people who borrowed the most non-
fiction titles from the library were the ones who read smaller
amounts of them.

Like the data on concentration of use, this material on the
actual use of library-circulated books helps to refine our de-
scription of public library service. Important differences exist
between the library’s records of service and what it really
does in its service to the community, and the discrepancy is on
the credit side. “There are several institutions in modern so-
ciety which claim more than they doj; in this respect, the pub-
lic library is doing more than it claims.”*"

SUMMARY Available information on the amount of use of
the public library suggests a number of conclusions. Within

A rough classification of the fiction titles into two “quality” levels accord-
ing to the Foster, 1935, classification revealed that the lower the quality of
fiction, the more completely the books were read. About g1 percent of the
“poorer” fiction was read completely as against only about 76 percent of the
“better” fiction (Dick and Berelson, 1948).

“Dick and Berelson, 1948, p. 107.