This library offers more than just books—we offer resources for the information age!

The Town of Drayton Valley is very proud of its library services. The Library started out as a volunteer project in 1957 by the Women’s Institute. The Community Library had its humble beginnings in a vacant classroom of a school.
In 1959 the Library relocated to the Town Administration building and became a municipal library. Now called the Drayton Valley Municipal Library, it joined the Yellowhead Regional Library in 1977. In 1980 the library again moved to larger premises. In 1988 another move to a totally new redesigned building at the Drayton Valley Civic Centre occurred. In 1989 the Library officially opened for business at the current location in the Civic centre. The year 1989 also marked the introduction of technology into the operation of the Library. The circulation of books was automated! Since that time technology has and still plays a significant in the operation and services of the Library.

In 1994, the Drayton Valley Municipal Library achieved the distinction of being the first and only library in Canada to offer individual dial-up internet service to the public at large. This was achieved through a joint partnership with the Drayton Valley Municipal Library, the Town of Drayton Valley, the Roman Catholic Separate School District and the Internet Centre of Edmonton. This unique service was conceived and implemented by the library well before the Community Access Program (CAP) was launched. The Town provided funding for the project and the Internet Centre of Edmonton provided the connection to the internet via a high-speed line. With the establishment of DVnet, Drayton Valley became the first rural town in Alberta to have and provide dial-up internet access to its residents. This unique marketing arrangement, together with two others, earned the librarian, Nesen Naidoo, the Creative Librarianship Award in 1994.The library in Drayton Valley was also the first in Alberta to offer the services of an in- house Bookshop. In 1999, we also received the Library Association of Alberta (LAA) Award of Excellence in Library Service for our children’s program, “Battle of the Books.” In 2007 the Library celebrated its 50th anniversary.