Photo: Eric Salard · CC BY-SA 2.0Holdenville’s library logs 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Holdenville Grace Pickens Public Library serves Holdenville’s 5,918 residents. Last year it lent 15K books, movies and e-books and logged 4,982 visits.
What Holdenville’s library is like
Holdenville Grace Pickens Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Holdenville Grace Pickens Public Library records 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people. Borrowing is 1.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8. It also spends less than most: $23 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Holdenville Grace Pickens Public Library offered 57 programs last year, 9.6 per 1,000 residents against a typical 34. Kids & programs ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Holdenville Grace Pickens Public Library holds 28,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. What people borrow ↓
40% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 40% of loans. Print still makes up 60%, much of it kids’ books. 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.
What’s behind Holdenville’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Holdenville is ahead of 42% of U.S. towns, #90 of 128 in Oklahoma. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
19 community nonprofits are registered in Holdenville
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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
14.2%
14.2% of Holdenville’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 Holdenville’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Holdenville Grace Pickens Public Library serves 5,918 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
40% of borrowing is digital
15K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 28K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
6,136 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
57 programs a year
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 Holdenville last year.
Find it
Holdenville Grace Pickens Public Library, 209 E 9th, Holdenville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Holdenville? 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 $2.03 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Holdenville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $134K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $273K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $134K 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 1,476 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. Holdenville Grace Pickens 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 Holdenville
Does Holdenville have a public library?
Yes. Holdenville Grace Pickens Public Library, 209 E 9th, serves Holdenville’s 5,918 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 53 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Holdenville Grace Pickens 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 Holdenville’s library?
It logged 0.8 visits and lent 2.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Holdenville’s civic life grade?
C+ Holdenville is ahead of 42% of U.S. towns on civic life, #90 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 Holdenville.
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.