Abstract
A hierarchal library arrangement plan has been put into place in two neighboring cities, however the expected library use patterns have changed. It appears that users who live in close proximity to medium-sized and small library facilities increasingly choose to travel longer distances to larger facilities rather than go to the one located in their neighborhood, resulting in the under use of the smaller libraries. The primary aim of this study is to examine the characteristics of users' library choice to determine how the distance between residence and library affects the style of library use. A survey was conducted on a random sampling of library users from Ishkari city and two wards of Sapporo city who elect to use the large library facility in the adjacent city Ishikari over the more distant one in their own city of residence or the smaller ones located in their neighborhoods. The results comply with seven variables contained in the Binary Logit Model of library use and indicate that, since users are now accompanied by a driver, distance in no longer the dominant factor in library choice.
