124 IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY

in a “typical” community. In it the public library is only one
source of books among several sources, but it is a major source
for both children and adults. About one quarter of all the
books read in the town are borrowed from the public library,
and for some kinds of titles the public library is practically the
sole source of supply. It therefore performs a valuable service
of communication.

Beyond this, it occupies an honorable place among public
institutions. The public library of the “typical” town is re-
ferred to with pride by many people who have not been in it
since they left school. The residents do not know a great deal
about the library, and not many of them use it directly; but
they do approve of it, and they support it without much
grudging. This is partly because of the prestige attached to
“intellectual” activity, with which book reading is associated
and sometimes even identified, in the community. The library
benefits from the “halo effect” surrounding any educational
institution in a culture-conscious country, even though some
of its work may not qualify as educational by reasonable defi-
nitions. Among other institutions in the community—the
churches, the schools, the newspapers, the radio, the business
firms, and the local government offices—the public library
holds a high position in public opinion. By and large, the
people of the community think well of their public library.

Although most adults in the community like the public li-
brary, most of them do not use it. Like many other civic
facilities in the town, the public library is used by only a mi-
nority of the population. In many respects they constitute a
separate group within the town. The amount of library use
varies with the size of the “typical” town—the smaller the
town, the larger the proportion of the population that uses the
library. At any one time the library registration file lists about
35 percent of the total population, but this figure is usually an
inaccurate or misleading indicator of library use. The size of