Catahoula Parish Courthouse · Photo: Z28scrambler · CC BY-SA 4.0Harrisonburg’s library lends 6.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Catahoula Parish Library serves 8,280 people in and around Harrisonburg. Last year it lent 54K books, movies and e-books and logged 36K visits.
What’s behind Harrisonburg’s civic life grade
Harrisonburg 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 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Catahoula Parish Library serves 8,280 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Catahoula Parish Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
54K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
571 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
96 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
Catahoula Parish Library, 300 Bushley Street, Harrisonburg.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Catahoula Parish Library branch.
New in Harrisonburg? 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 $2.05 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Harrisonburg cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $442K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $906K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $442K 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 2,109 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Catahoula Parish Library serves 8,280 people in and around Harrisonburg, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Harrisonburg.
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 Harrisonburg
Does Harrisonburg have a public library?
Yes. Catahoula Parish Library, 300 Bushley Street, serves 8,280 people in and around Harrisonburg (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Catahoula 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 Harrisonburg’s library?
It logged 4.4 visits and lent 6.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Harrisonburg’s civic life grade?
Harrisonburg 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 Harrisonburg.
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.