Photo: Roman Eugeniusz · CC BY-SA 3.0Shreveport’s library runs 19 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9 for libraries its size
Shreve Memorial Library serves 224,893 people in and around Shreveport from 10 locations. Last year it lent 941K books, movies and e-books and logged 691K visits.
Shreveport’s library, in brief
84% of the people it serves carry a library card
189,089 cards for 224,893 people, or 84%. At the typical library serving 100,000+ people, it’s 41%. How it compares ↓
Ten branches in Shreveport
Shreveport has ten branches of the Shreve Memorial Library, which serves 224,893 people in and around Shreveport. One card works at all of them. The buildings ↓
A well-funded system
Shreve Memorial Library spends $87 per resident a year, about twice the typical $36 for a library its size. What your card is worth ↓
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; Shreve Memorial Library serves 224,893 people in and around Shreveport, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Shreveport’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Shreveport is ahead of 26% of U.S. towns, #58 of 105 in Louisiana. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #184. Shreveport is graded on two of the three inputs. Shreveport’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($37K–$61K) 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 →
816 community nonprofits are registered in Shreveport
4.5 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 (279 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 36 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.8%
3.8% of Shreveport’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 Shreveport’s residents live; 2022.
About 44 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 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Shreve Memorial Library serves 224,893 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 20 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Shreve Memorial Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
941K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
358,605 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
10 places to borrow in Shreveport
Shreve Memorial Library, 424 Texas Street, Shreveport.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Shreve Memorial Library branch.
New in Shreveport? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Shreve Memorial Library branches in Shreveport
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Shreveport cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $16M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2M 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 189,089 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shreveport | Shreve Memorial Library | — | — | C |
| Bossier City | Bossier Parish Library | — | 62 | D |
| Greenwood | Higginbotham/Bryson Branch | — | 24 | C− |
| Lakeview | 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. Shreve Memorial Library serves 224,893 people in and around Shreveport, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Shreveport.
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 Shreveport
Does Shreveport have a public library?
Yes. Shreve Memorial Library, 424 Texas Street, serves 224,893 people in and around Shreveport (the survey’s count).
Is Shreve Memorial 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 Shreveport’s library?
It logged 3.1 visits and lent 4.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Shreveport’s civic life grade?
C Shreveport is ahead of 26% of U.S. towns on civic life, #58 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 Shreveport.
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.