Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Tallulah’s library logs 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Madison Parish Library serves 9,093 people in and around Tallulah. Last year it lent 9,579 books, movies and e-books and logged 6,026 visits.
Tallulah’s library, in brief
Madison Parish Library is used less than most libraries its size
Madison Parish Library records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people. Borrowing is 1.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8. How it compares ↓
Nearly everyone the system serves has a card
8,498 cards for 9,093 people, or 93%. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. How it compares ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 0% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 99% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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; Madison Parish Library serves 9,093 people in and around Tallulah, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Tallulah’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Tallulah is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns, #57 of 105 in Louisiana. Tallulah is graded on two of the three inputs. Tallulah’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
30 community nonprofits are registered in Tallulah
5.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
1.7%
1.7% of Tallulah’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 Tallulah’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Madison Parish Library serves 9,093 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Madison Parish Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
9,579 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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
Madison Parish Library, 403 North Mulberry Street, Tallulah.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Madison Parish Library branch.
New in Tallulah? 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 Tallulah cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $532K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $182K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $532K 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 8,498 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tallulah | Madison Parish Library fine-free | — | 49 | C |
| Richmond | 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. Madison Parish Library serves 9,093 people in and around Tallulah, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Tallulah.
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 Tallulah
Does Tallulah have a public library?
Yes. Madison Parish Library, 403 North Mulberry Street, serves 9,093 people in and around Tallulah (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Madison 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 Tallulah’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 1.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Tallulah’s civic life grade?
C Tallulah is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns on civic life, #57 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 Tallulah.
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.