National Library Week is April 6-12, 2025. This year’s theme is “Drawn to the Library!” Millions of people visit their local libraries each week. During 2024, New Ulm Public Library visits totaled 87,342 or 1,680 visits per week on average. So what’s the draw?

Although our core services remain books and information, we do so much more! Young families stop in for play and storytimes, students meet to study and socialize, job seekers use computers to create resumes and fill out applications, local organizations use our meeting room for educational and civic events, families research their history and digitize their memories, artists and crafters meet to practice their trades, and patrons of all ages attend entertaining and educational library events. And this is just a portion of the services offered in the building.

We offer many online services as well. Since 2020 we’ve seen rapid increases in the use of our Libby digital collection, which offers our patrons access to eBooks and eAudiobooks through the Libby app. Our patrons also have access to Mango Languages to learn new languages (app available!) and genealogy resources through Ancestry Library Edition. Links to all of the resources can be found at www.newulmlibrary.org; choose Digital Resources.

Libby and Mango Languages are offered region-wide through our regional library, Traverse des Sioux Library Cooperative (TdS). New Ulm Public Library’s membership to TdS also gives our patrons access to the collections of 37 libraries in our nine-county region. You can request items be sent to any member library for pickup and return those same items at any other member library – TdS’ courier system will get them back to the owning library for you!

If TdS member libraries don’t own an item, we can request it from other libraries throughout Minnesota. You effectively have access to millions of unique titles through your Minnesota libraries, all of which can be delivered to New Ulm Public Library for your convenience.

You can place your requests in person at the library, by calling us at 507-359-8331, or by visiting www.newulmlibrary.org and choosing Library Catalog. Starting this month you can also use TdS’ new app, TdS on the Go, available in the Apple and Google Play app stores!

We invite you to celebrate National Library Week the best way we know how – by visiting your New Ulm Public Library and enjoying the many, many resources we offer. We’ll see you soon!

New Ulm Public Library is located at 17 North Broadway and is open Monday-Thursday from 9:30 a.m.-8 p.m. and Friday-Saturday from 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.