Idaho Falls Library transforming the lives of readers
“Libraries Transform” is the theme this week at the Idaho Falls Library.
People visit the library for many different reasons, and this week the library is shining a light on how it impacts the community.
“The dinosaur one is super funny!” Isaac Hosford said.
He said he loves the library.
His mother, Ashton Hosforf, said she and her kids go to the library to tackle problems her kids are struggling with.
“I asked the librarians, ‘Do you have any good books on making friends?’ and I got just the best help; a plethora of books that I can now go home and read with my daughter. That I think will be really helpful,” Ashton Hosford said.
In honor of National Library Week, the library is celebrating by allowing visitors to express how the library has transformed them.
Kim Bryant is the children’s library supervisor. She has worked here for the last seven years. She said the library has increased programs for children and adults.
“The library can have resources that the entire community can access. So it’s not just something that’s in a classroom in a school but that anybody that has access to our libraries will have access to these tools,” Bryant said.
Bryant said one new program the library is working to implement is maker-spaces.
It is a way for community members to come together and learn how to make anything from knitting to coding to 3-D printing.
“As our society continues to advance, we’re losing some of these skills and that libraries can be a great place for people to get their hands on materials and to try using tools and to try to learn things that they haven’t done before,” Bryant said.
During the summer, the Idaho Falls Library gets about 70,000 visitors per month and in the winter, they get about 35,000!
Kajsa Pace is a regular visitor at the Idaho Falls Library.
She brings her kids and loves that they know they can turn to books when wanting to learn new information.
“We really enjoy coming here. They have a great program, I think, set up here and my kids really enjoy it. They look forward to it,” Pace said. “They have a great program where you can put books on hold and go pick them up upstairs because I have four kids and it gets a little crazy trying to look around. And sometimes I come here when I don’t have my kids in the evening times.”
National Library Week runs through Friday.
