Woolaroc Ranch Historic District · Photo: Wolfgang Sauber · CC BY-SA 3.0Barnsdall’s library runs 4 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Barnsdall Ethel Briggs Memorial Library serves Barnsdall’s 1,011 residents. Last year it lent 4,094 books, movies and e-books and logged 2,047 visits.
The short version on Barnsdall’s library
More library cards than residents
1,654 cards for 1,011 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Most of Barnsdall’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 60% of loans, more per resident than at 80% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 40%. What people borrow ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Barnsdall Ethel Briggs Memorial Library offered 4 programs last year, 4 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Barnsdall Ethel Briggs Memorial Library serves 1,011 residents with about one full-time staff. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Open only about 20 hours a week
Barnsdall Ethel Briggs Memorial Library keeps short hours: about 20 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Barnsdall’s civic life grade
Barnsdall 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 →
60% of borrowing is digital
4,094 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 12K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.1 time last year, on average.
2,474 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 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Barnsdall Ethel Briggs Memorial Library serves 1,011 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
4 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Barnsdall last year.
Find it
Barnsdall Ethel Briggs Memorial Library, 410 S Fifth, Barnsdall.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Barnsdall? 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 $2.24 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Barnsdall cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $30K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $68K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $30K 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 1,654 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Barnsdall Ethel Briggs Memorial 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 Barnsdall
Does Barnsdall have a public library?
Yes. Barnsdall Ethel Briggs Memorial Library, 410 S Fifth, serves Barnsdall’s 1,011 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 20 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Barnsdall Ethel Briggs Memorial 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 Barnsdall’s library?
It logged 2.0 visits and lent 4.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Barnsdall’s civic life grade?
Barnsdall 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 Barnsdall.
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.