Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Billy Hathorn assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY 3.0Plain Dealing’s library is a branch of Bossier Parish Library, which lends less per resident than 64% of systems its size
Plain Dealing’s library is the Plain Dealing Branch, a branch of Bossier Parish Library, which serves 131,102 people and lent 463K items last year.
What stands out about Plain Dealing Branch
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Plain Dealing’s civic life grade
Plain Dealing 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 →
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.
Find it
Plain Dealing Branch, 208 East Mary Lee, Plain Dealing.
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 Plain Dealing? 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 Plain Dealing 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.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Plain Dealing Branch is one branch of Bossier Parish Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 131,102 people it serves.
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 Plain Dealing
Does Plain Dealing have a public library?
Yes: Plain Dealing Branch, 208 East Mary Lee, is a branch of Bossier Parish Library, which serves 131,102 people. The branch is open about 45 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 Plain Dealing’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 Plain Dealing’s civic life grade?
Plain Dealing 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 Plain Dealing.
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.