Photo: TheLionHasSeen · CC BY-SA 4.0Bossier City’s library runs 18 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9 for libraries its size
Bossier Parish Library serves 131,102 people in and around Bossier City from 2 locations. Last year it lent 463K books, movies and e-books and logged 201K visits.
What stands out about Bossier Parish Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Bossier City’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Bossier City is ahead of 6% of U.S. towns, #96 of 105 in Louisiana. Bossier City is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Bossier City’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($42K–$70K) 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 →
126 community nonprofits are registered in Bossier City
2.0 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 (40 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 7 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.9%
4.9% of Bossier City’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 Bossier City’s residents live; 2022.
About 20 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 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Bossier Parish Library serves 131,102 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 26 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Bossier Parish Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
463K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
138,363 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
2 places to borrow in Bossier City
Bossier Parish Library, 7204 Hutchison Dr., Bossier City.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Bossier Parish Library branch.
New in Bossier City? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Bossier Parish Library branches in Bossier City
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bossier City cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $7.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $7.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $7.3M 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 31,387 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bossier City | Bossier Parish Library | — | 62 | D |
| Red Chute | East 80 Branch | — | 45 | — unincorporated |
| Shreveport | Shreve Memorial Library | — | — | 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. Bossier Parish Library serves 131,102 people in and around Bossier City, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Bossier City.
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 Bossier City
Does Bossier City have a public library?
Yes. Bossier Parish Library, 7204 Hutchison Dr., serves 131,102 people in and around Bossier City (the survey’s count) and is open about 62 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bossier 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 Bossier City’s library?
It logged 1.5 visits and lent 3.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Bossier City’s civic life grade?
D Bossier City is ahead of 6% of U.S. towns on civic life, #96 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 Bossier City.
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.