Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Coushatta’s library lends 1.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Red River Parish Library serves 7,238 people in and around Coushatta. Last year it lent 13K books, movies and e-books and logged 7,675 visits.
What Coushatta’s library is like
More library cards than residents
10,540 cards for 7,238 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. How it compares ↓
Red River Parish Library is used less than most libraries its size
Red River Parish Library records 1.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people. Borrowing is 1.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8. How it compares ↓
Well funded, but lightly used
Red River Parish Library spends $95 per resident, more than 89% of similar-size libraries. Use doesn’t match: visits per resident are lower than at 87% of them. What your card is worth ↓
40% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 40% of loans. That’s partly because print borrowing is low: digital loans per resident are below typical too. 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; Red River Parish Library serves 7,238 people in and around Coushatta, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Coushatta’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Coushatta is ahead of 6% of U.S. towns. Coushatta is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Coushatta’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($23K–$39K) 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 →
4 community nonprofits are registered in Coushatta
2.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.4%
4.4% of Coushatta’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 Coushatta’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Red River Parish Library serves 7,238 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Red River Parish Library system. The library’s own count.
40% of borrowing is digital
13K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,213 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
Red River Parish Library, 410 East Carroll Street, Coushatta.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Red River Parish Library branch.
New in Coushatta? 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 Coushatta cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $687K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $218K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $687K 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 10,540 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coushatta | Red River Parish Library fine-free | — | 40 | D |
| Edgefield | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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. Red River Parish Library serves 7,238 people in and around Coushatta, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Coushatta.
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 Coushatta
Does Coushatta have a public library?
Yes. Red River Parish Library, 410 East Carroll Street, serves 7,238 people in and around Coushatta (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Red River 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 Coushatta’s library?
It logged 1.1 visits and lent 1.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Coushatta’s civic life grade?
D Coushatta is ahead of 6% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Coushatta.
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.