Myth or reality: The absence of evangelical Christian fiction titles in the public libraries of the United States

With the emergence of evangelical Christian popular culture, debate persists about whether public libraries in the United States are purchasing evangelical Christian fiction. This study examines the presence or absence of best-selling evangelical Christian fiction titles from 1990 to 1999 in public libraries in comparison with the presence or absence of mainstream fiction bestsellers from the same period. Public libraries of some states purchase more evangelical fiction titles than others, and the proportion of evangelical fiction titles relative to total fiction titles also varies widely from state to state, and from census region to census region. Using data on the percentage of total religious adherents and evangelical adherents, variously defined, in states and census regions of the United States, a series of indexes was developed to rank states according to the proportion of their evangelical fiction titles in public libraries relative to the percentage of their evangelical population. In addition, there was a statistically significant relationship between the proportion of evangelical adherents in a state and the proportion of evangelical fiction titles held as a percentage of total fiction titles in public libraries, even when total expenditures for books and per capita expenditures were controlled for.