Idaho Falls Public Library

It’s better than the new Nampa library just because it’s been bigger and better for 30 years and is still serving so many patrons they can hardly keep up. My mom works there, though, so I may be a little biased.

Was killing time before my girlfriends flight got in and decided to go to the library. The architecture of the building is pretty impressive.

We love the Idaho Falls public library, although it may not completely love us back.
Five years ago we moved to IF, and the library was our regular haunt. The kids were much younger then – 5, 4 and 2 – so we definitely took advantage of the great children’s section which is sizable and comes complete with different reading programs. Also, they never kicked us out for being rowdy, which would have been completely justified at times.
Once, after hunting down all the Spiderman books at the IF library, I returned to the reading mat to find my youngest son engaged in a ruthless public brawl with his sister. He had fistfuls of my daughter’s hair, and she was in full-​freak mode with her head back, her mouth open and… nothing. That is, until she caught her breath.
Of course that says more about our family than the library, but the fact that they’ve often tolerated our presence is worth mentioning.
I also love their notification system. If you give them your email address or phone number they will warn you when your library items are due. One year ago we moved to another state where they randomly informed you, by phone, when your library books and/​or videos were past due (it was like a bizarre library lottery or something). We kept one video out for a week (they charged one dollar per day for overdue videos) and didn’t let us know. By the time we turned it I had to consider taking out a loan to reinstate our library privileges.
Not that we haven’t owed the Idaho Falls Library any overdue fees, but at least we had been sufficiently warned. In fact, our fines may have single-​handedly funded the remodel of the children’s section, which is phenomenal, by the way. My daughter was sad to have seen the animal bean bags go (which surprises me because that is where the aforementioned brawl took place, an event seared into my memory), but I love the whimsical couches and the new layout – it’s much more open and welcoming.
As a freelance writer, I have taken advantage of the library’s free wifi countless times. Whether my own cable is out or I just need a change of scenery, I love to sit on the top floor in the magazine section to write my heart out. And although they have a strict no cell phone policy, I have enjoyed many library patrons’ conversations, including one man who felt completely at ease discussing the terms of his parole by the newspapers.
They have a pretty expansive video section, although you can’t check out as many videos as you once could. But still, that’s how I watched the first three seasons of Ghost Whisperer and the entire series of Jericho. You can’t beat that!
The Idaho Falls Library is one of my favorite places in IF. In fact, my kids couldn’t wait to come back after we returned, and their nagging for full library privileges may have been what ultimately convinced me to get my Idaho drivers license.
More on the DMV, later…