We prove that there is a correspondence between Ramanujan-type formulas for $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}1/\pi $ and formulas for Dirichlet $L$-values. Our method also allows us to reduce certain values of the Epstein zeta function to rapidly converging hypergeometric functions. The Epstein zeta functions were previously studied by Glasser and Zucker.