Photo: Billy Hathorn · Public domainSt. Joseph’s library lends 1.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Tensas Parish Library serves 3,844 people in and around St. Joseph. Last year it lent 28K books, movies and e-books.
What stands out about Tensas Parish Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind St. Joseph’s civic life grade
St. Joseph 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 →
77% of borrowing is digital
28K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
21,855 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 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Tensas Parish Library serves 3,844 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 15 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Tensas Parish Library system. The library’s own count.
Visits aren’t shown: this year’s report counted only 250 visits against 28K loans, so we leave the count out.
What kids borrow
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Find it
Tensas Parish Library, 135 Plank Road, St. Joseph.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Tensas Parish Library branch.
New in St. Joseph? 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 $2.10 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average St. Joseph cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $208K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $436K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $208K 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 1,950 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Tensas Parish Library serves 3,844 people in and around St. Joseph, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just St. Joseph.
- Visits left out. This year’s visit count is far below what the library lends, so we leave it out.
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 St. Joseph
Does St. Joseph have a public library?
Yes. Tensas Parish Library, 135 Plank Road, serves 3,844 people in and around St. Joseph (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Tensas 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 St. Joseph’s library?
It lent 7.4 items per resident in 2024 (print and digital). Visits weren’t reported for 2024.
What is St. Joseph’s civic life grade?
St. Joseph 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 St. Joseph.
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.