Gratia Countryman

Title: Graph of Book Distribution
Type: Data
Date: 1977
Source: Robert Gordon Freestone

Description: Graph showing the increase in library book distribution during Countryman's work at the library. Taken from The Spatial Evolution of the Minneapolis Public Library.

Activities:

1. What is the difference between the number of book distribution points from the time Gratia Countryman became head librarian in 1904 and when she retired in 1936?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: The number of distribution points tripled, from around 50 to around 150.
2. According to the graph, did the number of distribution points continue to grow during the time Ms. Countryman was head librarian?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: No, for some reason the number fell just before 1920, then started to grow again.
3. What types of places were considered book distribution points?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: Distribution points included branches, or branch libraries; stations, or community bookshelves supported by the library truck; libraries in school classrooms; and house libraries or reading rooms in local businesses.
4. Were the most common users of the public library system mostly wealthy?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: The most common users of the libraries were not the wealthy. The wealthy could afford to buy books for their own libraries in their homes.