Shawmut Historic District · Photo: Rivers Langley; SaveRivers · CC BY-SA 3.0Valley’s library logs 1.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Valley - H. Grady Bradshaw / Chambers County Library serves 34,088 people in and around Valley. Last year it lent 54K books, movies and e-books and logged 37K visits.
What Valley’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
89% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 7%. What your card is worth ↓
Valley - H. Grady Bradshaw / Chambers County Library is used less than most libraries its size
Valley - H. Grady Bradshaw / Chambers County Library records 1.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 1.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. How it compares ↓
More library cards than residents
36,513 cards for 34,088 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓
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; Valley - H. Grady Bradshaw / Chambers County Library serves 34,088 people in and around Valley, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Valley’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Valley is ahead of 5% of U.S. towns, #144 of 156 in Alabama. Valley is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Valley’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($39K–$65K) 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 →
25 community nonprofits are registered in Valley
2.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (16 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
2.9%
2.9% of Valley’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 4.8% in the typical Alabama 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 Valley’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Valley - H. Grady Bradshaw / Chambers County Library serves 34,088 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 16 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Valley - H. Grady Bradshaw / Chambers County Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
54K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
11,721 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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
Valley - H. Grady Bradshaw Chambers County Library, 3419 20th Avenue, Valley.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Valley - H. Grady Bradshaw / Chambers County Library branch.
New in Valley? 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 Valley cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $889K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.1M 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 36,513 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valley | Valley - H. Grady Bradshaw Chambers County Library fine-free | — | 42 | D− |
| Lanett | None of its own | — | — | C− |
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. Valley - H. Grady Bradshaw / Chambers County Library serves 34,088 people in and around Valley, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Valley.
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 Valley
Does Valley have a public library?
Yes. Valley - H. Grady Bradshaw / Chambers County Library, 3419 20th Avenue, serves 34,088 people in and around Valley (the survey’s count) and is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Valley - H. Grady Bradshaw / Chambers County 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 Valley’s library?
It logged 1.1 visits and lent 1.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Valley’s civic life grade?
D− Valley is ahead of 5% of U.S. towns on civic life, #144 of 156 in Alabama. 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 Valley.
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.