118 FURTHER RESEARCH NEEDED

there are other sources in the community for much of their
circulation, but none which supply as broad a range of reli-
able information as is available at the public library. If this is
so, more data should be assembled about the information
functions of the public library, broadly defined.

The phrase “broadly defined” is necessary. The informa-
tion functions of the library are not necessarily synonymous
with the services of the reference room. A book used within
the reference room counts as information service of the li-
brary; the same book used for the same purpose, but lent to
the borrower for use, counts as circulation service. Yet iden-
tical informational service is performed in both cases. This
example calls for a clearer distinction among the various func-
tions of public library service, and this in turn calls for fuller
data on library activities. Part of such data would need to deal
with the purposes for which libraries are used so that finer and
more meaningful distinctions could be made than those con-
tained in the usual trichotomy of recreation, information, and
education. Also, sooner or later substantial attention will need
to be given to the “social utility” of the library’s reference
services. Supplymg answers to puzzle and quiz questions and
inquiries about curiosa or information to be used for the set-
tlement of friendly wagers is one thing; supplying assistance
to users of “serious” information and resources is another. In
sum, the reference and information services of the public li-
brary part1cularly suffer from insufficient research attention.
They are important now and promise to become more so, and
they deserve more study.

Unrecorded Use of the Public Library.—Because it is the
hardest to study, the unrecorded use of the public library has
been the least studied. From circulation records it is easy to
say how many of what kinds of books have been lent. It is
possible to report on the reference services of the library. But
the independent and private use of the library—browsing