Wintersmith Park Historic District · Photo: Brad Holt · CC BY-SA 2.0Ada’s library logs 5.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Ada Public Library serves Ada’s 16,611 residents. Last year it lent 140K books, movies and e-books and logged 84K visits.
Ada’s library, in brief
Nearly everyone in Ada has a card
15,579 cards for 16,611 people, or 94%. At the typical library serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, it’s 40%. How it compares ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 2.9 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 87% of similar-size libraries. It’s 35% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Programs lean toward adults
54% of the 644 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 243 were for children. 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.
What’s behind Ada’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Ada is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns, #5 of 128 in Oklahoma. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
134 community nonprofits are registered in Ada
8.1 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 (34 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
15.3%
15.3% of Ada’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 9.7% in the typical Oklahoma 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 Ada’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Ada Public Library serves 16,611 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
A year at Ada Public Library
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: hours open. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
140K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 82K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.1 time last year, on average.
48,349 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Ada last year.
Find it
Ada Public Library, 124 S. Rennie, Ada.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Ada? 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 $3.92 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ada cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $555K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $555K 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 15,579 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.
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.
- Not reported for 2024: hours open. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Ada Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Ada
Does Ada have a public library?
Yes. Ada Public Library, 124 S. Rennie, serves Ada’s 16,611 residents (the survey’s count).
Is Ada Public 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 Ada’s library?
It logged 5.1 visits and lent 8.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Ada’s civic life grade?
A+ Ada is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns on civic life, #5 of 128 in Oklahoma. 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 Ada.
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.