Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Rayville’s library logs 1.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Richland Parish Library serves 19,643 people in and around Rayville. Last year it lent 89K books, movies and e-books and logged 22K visits.
Rayville’s library, in brief
Most of the library’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 65% of loans, more per resident than at 88% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 35%. What people borrow ↓
Richland Parish Library is used less than most libraries its size
Richland Parish Library records 1.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 1.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. How it compares ↓
72% of the people it serves carry a library card
14,207 cards for 19,643 people, or 72%. At the typical library serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, it’s 40%. How it compares ↓
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; Richland Parish Library serves 19,643 people in and around Rayville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Rayville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Rayville is ahead of 23% of U.S. towns, #63 of 105 in Louisiana. Rayville is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
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 →
7 community nonprofits are registered in Rayville
2.2 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.3%
7.3% of Rayville’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 Rayville’s residents live; 2022.
65% of borrowing is digital
89K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
57,251 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Richland Parish Library serves 19,643 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Richland Parish Library system. The library’s own count.
About 6 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
Richland Parish Library, 1410 Louisa Street, Rayville.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Richland Parish Library branch.
New in Rayville? 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 $1.27 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Rayville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.1M 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 14,207 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Richland Parish Library serves 19,643 people in and around Rayville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Rayville.
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 Rayville
Does Rayville have a public library?
Yes. Richland Parish Library, 1410 Louisa Street, serves 19,643 people in and around Rayville (the survey’s count) and is open about 48 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Richland 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 Rayville’s library?
It logged 1.1 visits and lent 4.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Rayville’s civic life grade?
C− Rayville is ahead of 23% of U.S. towns on civic life, #63 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 Rayville.
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.