About the Alma Public Library
Mission, Vision & Purpose
Mission. The Mission of the Alma Public Library is to promote literacy, build community, and encourage lifelong learning.
Vision. The Alma Public Library strives to be an essential, beloved, vibrant destination at the heart of our community on the banks of the Mississippi River where all generations can gather, connect, discover, create, and belong. We provide resources, programs, and services that enrich, engage, and inspire.
Find Us
Alma Public Library
P.O. Box 217
312 N Main Street
Alma, WI 54610
Located on The Great River Road, Highway 35, at Lock & Dam No. 4.
We are part of the Winding Rivers Library System.
Library Staff & Board
Library Staff
Director / Librarian: Laura Pettersen
- Collections Care: Nikki Herold
- Programming & Publicity: Kierra Green
- Assistants: Judy Stoltman, Sarah Cook
Library Board
Alma Public Library Board Members
- President: Cindy Duley
- Vice President: Shelly Cherry
- Secretary: Andrea Goeldner
- Treasurer: Kim Brommer
- Trustee: Carolyn Grisen
- Trustee: Gary Wolf
- School Representative Trustee: Sherry Brevick
- City Council Representative: Gary Jepsen
Board meetings
Next meeting:
January 26, 2026 – 6:30 pm
Agenda
Held at Alma City Hall,
312 N Main St, Alma, WI 54610
or join virtually via Zoom.
Gifts & Donations
Volunteers & Friends of the Library
Volunteers
If you are interested in volunteering at the library, please give us a call or stop in. It’s a great way to support your community and connect with neighbors.
Friends of the Library
Friends of the Library is a group of individuals who support the work of the library through
an annual book sale, support of community events, and financial contributions to programs and
activities.
Friends meets the third Wednesday of the month at 10 am at the library.
Stop in and join the conversation!
Library History in Brief
Adapted from a history written by Marie L. Marquardt, Former Library Director (~2010)
Ledgers and meeting minutes from 1939 listed Mohr, Brevick, Harrison, Bachhuber, Anstensen, Drew, Kelly, McCabe, and Gladys Stohr. These first participants in an official library association (the Alma Free Library) were concerned with paying $6.00 a month to lease space in the Schreiber building; worried about overflow of donated books on the shelves, electing officers, sending notices to the Buffalo Journal, and assigning responsibilities. Eventually Miss Ottilia Neumeister was hired as librarian in 1943. It seems that for only twenty-five cents a year you could join the Alma Free Library association and have a vote in how it was run. So this was the official beginning.
The library officially became “public” in 1965 when it moved into the city building (formerly the teacher’s college and now the Alma Museum). With a spacious room, paneled walls, new carpet, a collection of 4,200 books, and Miss Alice Johnson as the librarian, the public library was launched.
APL celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1989. The library had just expanded to a large, bright room adjacent to City Hall with 8,500 volumes, modern equipment, cassettes, tapes, TV, VCR, all under the direction of librarian Linda Torgerson. One special speaker for the open house was Gladys Stohr, who had served on the library board for the entire 50 years.
Alma Public Library joined the shared system (part of Winding Rivers Library System) in May 2007, a next step after automating the library in 2000. It took one year to re-barcode the entire library so that new barcodes could be read at any library in the Winding Rivers Library System. Many new services for the public grew from this automation, including the ability to request books from one’s own home computer and have them delivered to the library.