Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Alexandria’s library runs 18 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9 for libraries its size
Rapides Parish Library serves 125,899 people in and around Alexandria from 3 locations. Last year it lent 354K books, movies and e-books and logged 299K visits.
What stands out about Rapides Parish Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Alexandria’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Alexandria is ahead of 33% of U.S. towns, #45 of 105 in Louisiana. Alexandria is graded on two of the three inputs. Alexandria’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($35K–$59K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
Civic life counts registered nonprofits, library visits and online volunteering groups, so it can miss civic life that runs through congregations, mutual aid or neighbors looking out for each other.
Library visits: IMLS Public Libraries Survey, FY2024. Nonprofits: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, October 2026. Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. How TownRatings grades civic life →
239 community nonprofits are registered in Alexandria
5.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
Community nonprofits, by kind
Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (85 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 8 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.7%
3.7% of Alexandria’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.9% in the typical Louisiana town and 7.5% nationally.
Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. ZIP-code figures, weighted by where Alexandria’s residents live; 2022.
About 19 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Rapides Parish Library serves 125,899 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 16 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Rapides Parish Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
354K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
110,882 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
A National Register landmark since 2016
Rapides Parish Library, 411 Washington Street, Alexandria.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Rapides Parish Library branch.
New in Alexandria? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Rapides Parish Library
Rapides Parish Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jan 26, 2016. It is significant for its architecture at the local level.
More about the building →Other Rapides Parish Library branches in Alexandria
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Alexandria cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $6.9M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $6.9M budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
Retail prices are typical, rounded down: a new book $17, a kids’ book $12, an e-book or e-audiobook $15, a movie rental $4, a class or program $10, a computer or Wi-Fi session $3. The average cardholder’s month = the library’s yearly loans, attendance and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ its 75,146 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexandria | Rapides Parish Library | — | 49 | C |
| Pineville | Martin Branch | — | 49 | C− |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Rapides Parish Library serves 125,899 people in and around Alexandria, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Alexandria.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average; libraries are compared with others serving about as many people. How TownRatings uses library figures →
Questions about the library and civic life in Alexandria
Does Alexandria have a public library?
Yes. Rapides Parish Library, 411 Washington Street, serves 125,899 people in and around Alexandria (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Rapides Parish Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Alexandria’s library?
It logged 2.4 visits and lent 2.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Alexandria’s civic life grade?
C Alexandria is ahead of 33% of U.S. towns on civic life, #45 of 105 in Louisiana. The grade combines library visits per resident, community nonprofits per 1,000 residents and the share of adults 25–44 in volunteering groups. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Alexandria.
Libraries: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024. Each library reports its own numbers. Distances are straight-line from the town center. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.