The importance of an active library in a small-town setting is vital for the development and growth of our youth.

The Bradshaw-Chambers County Library doesn’t fall short of that mark by any means as it is consistently coming up with new programs to engage children and adults weekly. This past Friday, the library announced there were 1,029 participants in its summer reading program for children and those readers finished more than 69,000 books — that’s an average of about 67 books per child.

We understand that some of the books could be as little as 10 pages but the length of the books shouldn’t overshadow the importance to these children being involved in the community and taking an active step in reading. It doesn’t matter if it a book, newspaper or a magazine, reading can only bring positives for youth children with developing brains.

As for the library itself, we are proud to know it doesn’t just sit still and let people walk through its doors on its own. It actively seeks out individuals to take part in programming for children and adults of all ages.

One example is the Lunch ‘N’ Lunch programs hosted by the library. There is usually a talk once a month with people from the Greater Valley Area community speaking with a group of interested parties about something happening in the area. Other times, the events are about national events with a local tie-in.

The library also takes a role in bringing interesting exhibits to Chambers County such as the traveling Alabama 200 exhibit. The exhibit not only had a walkthrough, interactive feature to it, but also several interesting Chambers County artifacts through the past 200 years. 

The point is that a local library is so much more than a place with books. It is a lifeblood of a community. Looking for something for the kids to do during the summer when school is out? Check the library. Starved for information about your local community and its role in Alabama’s past 2000 years? We’re willing to bet Librarian Mary Hamilton, Assistant Director Tabitha Truitt and Archives Assistant Robin Brown, will help any way they can in Valley. In LaFayette, Rachel Johnson is the LaFayette Pilot Public Library branch manager.

We trust the library will keep up the solid work in providing resources and activities to Chambers County and we hope the residents of the county show up to support the library as well.