More than books: How Idaho Falls’ library serves the community

IDAHO FALLS — Though you might only associate the library with rows of books, the Idaho Falls Public Library acts as an informal community center, with meetups ranging from art classes to Dungeons and Dragons.

Idaho Falls’ library has three levels and plenty of space for different activities. Many of its programs prioritize things like developing reading skills in children, and the library staff say they want to have as much diversity in their programs as possible.

“We have meeting space, we have this room that we’re in currently, we do art programs in here. We do monetary education. We do D&D in here. … We’ve had homeschool groups. So we had one homeschool group that was putting together a play, and so they needed a space to practice,” said Beth Swenson, one of the assistant directors for the library, who is in charge of community engagement.

Many of the programs run at the library are operated and organized by the library itself, but it is also open to outside groups coming in to teach classes or hold events. Organizations like Trio and the University of Idaho have taught classes at the library, such as one on financial literacy, but the library is also open to individuals reserving spaces. Swenson even referenced one occasion in which a wedding was held there.

That’s not to say books and reading haven’t been remained a priority for the library.

“We obviously have the books, but we’re encouraging reading at home. We’re trying to work with early literacy, so we have early literacy kits that families can take home and practice at home. We’re getting Kodables, which helps kids learn to read by themselves. They’re a big deal in the educational world,” said Swenson.

Among the programs meant to support children’s reading skills, Swenson highlighted story time.

“I think story time is really integral because kids are not only learning patience. They have to learn to sit still and listen and focus on the speaker. But it also is really good for kids to be with their own peers and learning to interact and all that stuff. Story time is great because they get introduced to so many books that aren’t just Dr. Seuss or all those classics,” said Swenson.

Despite the internet seeming to take over everything else, the Idaho Falls Library still checks out millions of physical books each year, Swenson said. It has an extensive library of e-books through the Libby app for patrons who’d prefer to read on their phone or a tablet, but Swenson says there’s just something special about traditional books.

“We’re still seeing a lot of our physical books being check out. In fact, physical books are better for kids to be reading. There’s just something about the print on paper that connects with their brains better than it being electronic,” said Swenson.

As far as structural changes go, Swenson was proud of the library’s drive-thru, which makes it easy for people to grab their book holds and get back out on the road again, making the library more accessible.

“As a mom, the less I have to get my children out of their car seats, the happier I am. So it’s really great to have (the drive-thru), that took quite a chunk of budget and time,” said Swenson.

Swenson wasn’t able to provide any firm plans for future structural changes to the library, but it is always adding more programs to their activities roster. Some of the new programs staff have wanted to add, though, have had to be postponed or removed due to funding ability, especially as grants have been cut.

“We are getting less money, and it does affect us. We were getting a grant for, I think I put in for 50 new laptops, so then we could teach kids how to do coding. I could teach seniors how to use the internet, because even still, I have people who are like, ‘I don’t understand how to use a mouse.’ But because of what was going on with federal and what’s going on with state government, we unfortunately did not. We were in line to get that grant, and now we have no new computers,” said Swenson. “I understand the whole like, ‘Let’s get corporate and private funding and all that.’ But sometimes that just doesn’t work. And for libraries, it doesn’t really work at all.”