An Investigation of Differences in Public Library Usage Patterns Between Gifted Adults and Members of the General Public

• Main Author: Foudray, Rita Catherine Schoch
• Other Authors: Totten, Herman L.
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: University of North Texas 1989
• Subjects: public libraries; Mensa; intellectualism; Public libraries > Use studies.; Gifted persons.; Libraries and intellectuals.
• Online Access: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc935588/

The purpose of this research was to isolate the variable giftedness in a pipulation and determine whether that variable could be used as a predictor of public library use. The analysis of data indicated that public library use was higher for the general public than for the gifted adults. There was less variation among the factors of age, level of education, and public library use for the gifted adults than for the general public. Books as a resource for information were mentioned by the general adults public more frequently than by the gifted adults. Friends were listed more often as an information resource by the gifted population than by the public. Gifted adults both read and owned more books than did the general public. There was no correlation between amount of reading and number of library visits in either sample. 35 of the general public has a Library Usage Index Value of less than 4, 97 of the gifted adults did. There was almost no difference between the first ten information sources listen by both samples.