Brush Creek Bridge · Photo: Photo by Michael Overton. · CC BY-SA 2.5Spring Valley Township has no public library of its own; the nearest is Johnston Public Library in Baxter Springs, 4 miles away
Spring Valley Township doesn’t have a public library of its own. The closest is Johnston Public Library in Baxter Springs, 4 miles away. Many small-town libraries give cards to neighbors, sometimes for a yearly fee, so call ahead.
C−Civic lifeAhead of 19% of U.S. towns. Nonprofits and volunteering.Libraries for Spring Valley Township, in brief
Spring Valley Township borrows from the libraries next door
Spring Valley Township has no public library of its own, but three libraries are within 10 miles, the closest being Johnston Public Library in Baxter Springs (4 miles). Many small-town libraries give cards to people from neighboring towns, sometimes for a yearly fee, so call ahead. Nearest libraries ↓
Spring Valley Township isn’t the only town nearby without one
Garden Township, Crawford Township and Lyon Township don’t have a public library of their own either. Among the towns next door, Baxter Springs (Johnston Public Library) does. Libraries next door ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Distances are straight-line from the town center.
What’s behind Spring Valley Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Spring Valley Township is ahead of 19% of U.S. towns. Spring Valley Township is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($65K–$108K) 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 →
2 community nonprofits are registered in Spring Valley Township
1.8 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.2%
7.2% of Spring Valley Township’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.7% in the typical Kansas 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 Spring Valley Township’s residents live; 2022.
The closest is 4 miles away
Closest first, measured from the center of Spring Valley Township. Each one’s hours, and whether it charges late fines.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter Springs | Johnston Public Library fine-free | 3.0 | 44 | C+ |
| Garden Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Crawford Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Lyon Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Spring Valley Township
Does Spring Valley Township have a public library?
No. The closest is Johnston Public Library in Baxter Springs, 4 miles from the town center. Many libraries give cards to people from neighboring towns, sometimes for a yearly fee, so call ahead.
What is Spring Valley Township’s civic life grade?
C− Spring Valley Township is ahead of 19% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Spring Valley Township.
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.