Morehouse Parish Courthouse · Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY 3.0Bastrop’s library runs 0.4 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Morehouse Parish Library serves 23,787 people in and around Bastrop. Last year it lent 14K books, movies and e-books and logged 50K visits.
What Bastrop’s library is like
Few programs for a library this size
Morehouse Parish Library offered 9 programs last year, 0.4 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
People visit, but borrow less than most
Morehouse Parish Library lends 0.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, fewer than 96% of similar-size libraries, though visits are closer to typical. What people borrow ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 0% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 99% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024; Morehouse Parish Library serves 23,787 people in and around Bastrop, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Bastrop’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Bastrop is ahead of 26% of U.S. towns, #59 of 105 in Louisiana. Bastrop is graded on two of the three inputs. Bastrop’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
40 community nonprofits are registered in Bastrop
4.3 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 (16 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.2%
4.2% of Bastrop’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 Bastrop’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Morehouse Parish Library serves 23,787 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Morehouse Parish Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
14K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
9 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
Find it
Morehouse Parish Library, 524 East Madison Avenue, Bastrop.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Morehouse Parish Library branch.
New in Bastrop? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bastrop cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $507K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $229K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $507K 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 16,895 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Morehouse Parish Library serves 23,787 people in and around Bastrop, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Bastrop.
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 Bastrop
Does Bastrop have a public library?
Yes. Morehouse Parish Library, 524 East Madison Avenue, serves 23,787 people in and around Bastrop (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Morehouse 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 Bastrop’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 0.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Bastrop’s civic life grade?
C Bastrop is ahead of 26% of U.S. towns on civic life, #59 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 Bastrop.
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. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.