About Us
Affiliated Organizations
The first public library in Anchorage opened with a small collection of donated books in 1917, shortly after the founding of the city. Today’s bustling Anchorage Public Library has expanded far beyond anything the city’s early library founders could have imagined: APL now circulates over 1.5 million books and other media a year. The main Z.J. Loussac Library and its five branches serve over 850,000 visitors each year, over 170,000 Anchorage residents have library cards, and over 60,000 children and adults participated in library programs last year.
As Alaska’s largest net lender of materials through inter-library loan with smaller libraries around the state, APL truly is “Alaska’s library.” A recent report by UAA’s Institute of Social and Economic Research and the Anchorage Public Library, “Growing Minds and Strengthening Communities: An economic valuation study of the Anchorage Public Library,” found that APL services generate a benefit from $10- to $18-million annually.
Anchorage Public Library provides resources to enrich the lives and empower the future of our diverse community, while preserving the past for generations to come.
The Friends of the Anchorage Public Library is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the Library through fundraising, supporting acquisitions, sponsoring programs and events, and increasing public awareness of the library.
The Friends of the Library host the annual Beyond the Stacks luncheon and the semi-annual book sales. To learn more, or volunteer your time with the Friends, visit www.aml-friends.org/ or call 343-2952 and leave a message.
You can become a member of the Friends by donating through Network for Good (a secure site), CLICK HERE TO DONATE ONLINE or mail a check to:
Friends of the Library
P.O. Box 241325
Anchorage, Alaska 99524
www.friendsapl.org
Your contributions help support the libraries and put books on the shelves.
The library advisory board acts as the planning body for library activities and special projects and makes recommendations to the administration and assembly. The board also reviews annual budgets and operations. It consists of nine members and meets on the third Wednesday of each month.
The Center for the Book is a non-profit organization celebrating the richness and diversity of language. Founded in 1991, the Center exists to ''stimulate public interest in literacy, through the spoken and written word, as central to our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.' There are Centers in 50 states and they are affiliated with the Library of Congress Center for the Book.
