Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Winnsboro’s library logs 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Franklin Parish Library serves 19,107 people in and around Winnsboro. Last year it lent 54K books, movies and e-books and logged 18K visits.
What Winnsboro’s library is like
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, Franklin Parish Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on six. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Franklin Parish Library offered 180 programs last year, 9.4 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
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; Franklin Parish Library serves 19,107 people in and around Winnsboro, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Winnsboro’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Winnsboro is ahead of 16% of U.S. towns, #74 of 105 in Louisiana. Winnsboro is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Winnsboro’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($27K–$44K) 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 →
15 community nonprofits are registered in Winnsboro
3.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.9%
4.9% of Winnsboro’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 Winnsboro’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Franklin Parish Library serves 19,107 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 19 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Franklin Parish Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
54K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
17,352 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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
Franklin Parish Library, 705 Prairie Street, Winnsboro.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Franklin Parish Library branch.
New in Winnsboro? 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 $1.31 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Winnsboro cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $666K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $871K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $666K 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 4,852 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Franklin Parish Library serves 19,107 people in and around Winnsboro, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Winnsboro.
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 Winnsboro
Does Winnsboro have a public library?
Yes. Franklin Parish Library, 705 Prairie Street, serves 19,107 people in and around Winnsboro (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Franklin 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 Winnsboro’s library?
It logged 0.9 visits and lent 2.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Winnsboro’s civic life grade?
C− Winnsboro is ahead of 16% of U.S. towns on civic life, #74 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 Winnsboro.
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.