Following the end of World War II, the ALA was eager to legitimize the role of libraries in American society after an extended period of diminished library patronage during the war. In an effort to bolster the profession, ALA Executive Director Carl H. Milam, along with other association leaders, supported the implementation of a national study on the status of public libraries and librarianship in mid-twentieth century America. The ALA's hope was that a non-biased study conducted by social scientists, not librarians, would legitimize librarianship, raising it from its marinalized professional status while improving the public image of the institution, thus increasing patronage and federal financial support.

The study was supported through Carnegie Foundation funds and was directed by Robert D. Leigh, a University of Chicago political scientist. The inquiry consisted of seven monographs and five supplemental reports by many different authors, including political scientist Oliver Garceau, Columbia Library School Dean Bernard Berelson, and library educator Alice I. Bryan.

The Inquiry concluded that, overall, public libraries were not reaching their professional goals. Studies showed that only three out of every ten children and one out of every ten adults used their local public library regularly. These patrons consistently checked out fiction and literature of "lower" intellectual caliber.

The Inquiry has been accused of an "elitist" stance by many librarians, immediately following the study's publication up through the present. This complaint stems from the fact that the Inquiry concluded that since libraries were not really fulfilling their objectives anyways, they should stop catering to popular demand and serve only the small, core group of users who were using libraries for the "right" reasons.