Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY 3.0Columbia’s library lends 1.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Caldwell Parish Library serves 9,393 people in and around Columbia. Last year it lent 21K books, movies and e-books and logged 17K visits.
What stands out about Caldwell Parish Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Columbia’s civic life grade
Columbia isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Caldwell Parish Library serves 9,393 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Caldwell Parish Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
21K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
4,372 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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.
Find it
Caldwell Parish Library, 211 Jackson Street, Columbia.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Caldwell Parish Library branch.
New in Columbia? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.24 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Columbia cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $301K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $373K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $301K budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
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 5,608 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Caldwell Parish Library serves 9,393 people in and around Columbia, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Columbia.
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 Columbia
Does Columbia have a public library?
Yes. Caldwell Parish Library, 211 Jackson Street, serves 9,393 people in and around Columbia (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Caldwell Parish Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Columbia’s library?
It logged 1.8 visits and lent 2.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Columbia’s civic life grade?
Columbia isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Columbia.
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.