Sonja Ferrell has served as the library director at the Ottumwa Public Library for 15 years. She is the current ILA Government Affairs Committee (GAC) chair and has been active on the committee on and off over the years. She has worked in libraries. Previously, she worked in Washington, DC, in the U.S. Senate. She has always had a passion for advocacy, and she especially enjoys focusing her efforts on helping(and sometimes protecting) libraries not only in Iowa but all over the country.
During her time working in Ottumwa, she has served on the ILA Executive Board 2018-2020, attended the ILA Leadership Institute in 2018, and graduated from the Ottumwa Leadership Academy in 2014. She has a BA in Journalism & Communications from Augustana University in Sioux Falls, SD, a Master's in Educational Leadership & Policy Studies from the University of Maryland, and an MLIS from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Outside of the library, she lives on a farm outside of Hedrick with her husband, two daughters, goats, cattle, chickens, rabbits, and a cat. She has volunteered with and served on the boards of the Ottumwa Hy-Noon Kiwanis, League of Women Voters, Wapello County Children’s Alliance, Je-Wa-Ke Little League Board, Pekin Youth Sports Board, Pekin Youth Basketball, her church’s youth ministry, as a judge for History Day projects, multiple book clubs, and coached too many youth softball, basketball, and volleyball teams to count.
