What's at our website??

Do you know what's available on the IFPL homepage? Well, let us tell you...

• You can find out about hours and events the Idaho Falls Public Library, the Iona Library, and our new branch in Swan Valley.
• Of course, you can search the catalog for books, movies, music, and magazines. Should it happen that you can't find the materials your looking for, there is an email link on the homepage that you can use to suggest titles for purchase!
• And, you can start the self-registration process for a library card by clicking on My Account.
• Learn about some of the new titles coming to the Library when you click on New Titles.
• The Friends link will give you more information about the IFPL Friends of the Library group, how to become a member, and news about upcoming book sales. The next sale is June 13 and 14, 10-5:30pm!
• What do you know about the statue on the North side of the Library? Do you know the connection Wilson Rawls has with Idaho Falls? Simply click on Wilson Rawls link, and you can learn all about it!
• Databases! You can get information about fixing your car with the Auto Repair Reference Center, look into your genealogy with Heritage Quest, search newspapers for articles with ProQuest National Newspapers, look for your next book on NoveList, and don't forget about the wealth of research you can find on LiLI Databases, Gale Virtual Reference Library, and LitFinder!
• Download e-books and audio books for readers (listeners) of all ages with OverDrive, OneClick digital, and Tumble Books.
• Looking for a job? We have links to both the Idaho Job Listings and Idaho Career Information System from the Idaho Department of Labor.
• And lastly, you can easily connect with the City of Idaho Falls.

With so much information in one spot, you'll want to bookmark www.ifpl.org and come back again and again!

Who painted those paintings?

Fred Ochi!

Best known for his paintings of Idaho's red barns, local artisan Fred Ochi could be seen with his easel and canvases sitting on the roadside capturing the rustic scenery. Within 30 minutes, Ochi could transform reality into a symbolic canvas with flowing brush strokes and powerful colors. His ability to use perspective in a way to capture one's eye was a trademark.
 
Born September 7, 1913, in Watsonville, California, Ochi grew up at the Webb Ranch in Palo Alto. His father, Tomoji Ochi, was a share cropper, raising strawberries. Fred's mother, Tome, died when he was 8 years old. Fred and his older brother, Tom, were sent back to Japan for three years to be raised by his grandparents. It was in Iwakuni, Japan, that Fred learned calligraphy and Japanese brush painting. In 1924, Fred and Tom returned to California. Fred studied art at Oakland's California College of Arts and Crafts. He worked three years without pay as an apprentice for Fox West Coast Theatres, eventually earning his way onto their full-time payroll and managing 17 theatres in the San Francisco Bay area, including the Palo Alto Theatre. Ochi was known for his graphic arts and large portraits of the movie stars. The artwork adorned the movie theatre marquees.

Prior to America entering World War II, Ochi served as the first President of the San Mateo Japanese American Citizens League (JACL). Once the war started, Ochi was evacuated off the West Coast in 1942, along with the other Japanese Americans living there. He settled in Southeastern Idaho and continued his work for Fox West Coast Theatres, handling the marquees for theatres throughout Southern Idaho. Ochi had to be escorted with the protection of the Idaho National Guard from Nampa, Idaho, when local citizens posted placards around the city claiming "Fox West Coast Theatres Import Jap Painters." Fortunately, Fred found a more accepting community in Idaho Falls, where he opened his own commercial art and sign shop business in 1943.

Ochi was a founding member of the Idaho Falls Art Guild, along with other long time artists such as Ina Oyler, Suzanne Fonnesbeck and Helen Aupperle. He later served as President of the Idaho Art Association and earned the 1998 State of Idaho Governors Award for Excellence in Art from then Governor Phil Batt. Ochi shared his gifts with others by teaching art classes at local schools, universities and summer workshops throughout Idaho and western Wyoming.

During Ochi's business career, he operated his commercial art and sign shop until 1979, when his son Jon bought the business. Over the years, he served as a "Gold Coater" for the Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce and maintained a 44-year perfect meeting attendance record as a member of the Idaho Falls Kiwanis Club. During Idaho's State Centennial, Ochi was recognized as one of the "100 Citizens Who Made a Difference for the State."

Ochi always had a smile for a friend or stranger. His business cards referred to himself as the "Smiling Irishman, Fred O'Shay." Ochi made everyone into the "mayor" or "governor," befriending everyone he met. He often proclaimed hiself to be a "starving artist," saying that "my paintings will become more valuable once I die." Ochi claimed to have painted more than 10,000 watercolors during his life and remained active until days before he passed away. Painting was his passion, and people were his inspiration.

(text from http://www.woodfuneralhome.com/memsol.cgi?user_id=219250)

Sister Cities Serenity Garden... did you know?

Sister Cities Serenity Garden

at the Idaho Falls Public Library

This area can be used for quiet meditation and the wonder of new discovery, but it is certainly more than a garden. Out Sister Cities Serenity Garden, designed by Mike Zaladonis, created a peaceful, living environment for all who enter the Idaho Falls Public Library. Look closely and you will see that the Garden shares some of the symbols you connect with the Library.

Lanterns

There are two Japanese lanterns in this garden. The lanterns are places at the entrance to important building, lighting the path for travelers. Our garden's lanterns, places on the ground level of the library, light the up-wards path to knowledge.

Water basin and dipper

Ancient people believed that a man is not ready to take in new information until he has a clean mind and body. Take time to cleanse your mind of any negative thoughts that might keep you from learning something new, seeing a different solution or reaching your fill potential.

Pond

A pond is a source of purification and cool refreshment. Renewed by a stream and waterfall, our pond is ever changing but always the same, like pure truth. as we learn, we see truth reflecting differently in each of our lives, but the truths themselves stay constant unchanged. you will fine may truths here. How you apply them is up to you.

Sand and pebble fields

Sand and pebble fields are common features in Japanese gardens. They are a peaceful clean place to sit and meditate. Each grain of sand or pebbly stands for an ancestor or friend who has influence our life in small and large ways. Influences can come from living people and from authors, characters, and relative long past. Take a moment to remember those one who have influenced you.

Large stones

There are many large stones throughout this garden. Large stones in all cultures symbolize firm foundation. The stones in our garden represent the firm foundation of knowledge needed to form new thoughts and ideas.

Find the classics you love, standing tall and rooted like good shade trees. Feel the excitement of new growth. Like new spring leaves, new stories and innovative media arrive at the Library regularly.

Just like the trees and plants in our garden, the Library is always growing and changing. 

Rediscover the Idaho Falls Public Library!

Yesterday, the Internet* so kindly reminded us that rocker David Bowie turned 67 years old!  Ever wonder what books he would recommend for you to read?  Well, wonder no more... I give you Bowie’s booktrysts, in reverse chronological order:

1.      The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby (2008)

2.      The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (2007)

3.      The Coast of Utopia (trilogy) by Tom Stoppard (2007)

4.      Teenage: The Creation of Youth 1875–1945 by Jon Savage(2007)

5.      Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (2002)

6.      The Trial of Henry Kissinger by Christopher Hitchens(2001)

7.      Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder by Lawrence Weschler(1997)

8.      A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1890–1924 byOrlando Figes (1997)

9.      The Insult by Rupert Thomson (1996)

10.    Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon (1995)

11.    The Bird Artist by Howard Norman (1994)

12.    Kafka Was the Rage: A Greenwich Village Memoir by Anatole Broyard (1993)

13.    Beyond the Brillo Box: The Visual Arts in Post-Historical Perspective by Arthur C. Danto (1992)

14.    Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson by Camille Paglia (1990)

15.    David Bomberg by Richard Cork (1988)

16.    Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom by Peter Guralnick (1986)

17.    The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin (1986)

18.    Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd (1985)

19.    Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music by Gerri Hirshey(1984)

20.    Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter (1984)

21.    Money  by Martin Amis (1984)

22.    White Noise by Don DeLillo (1984)

23.    Flaubert’s Parrot by Julian Barnes (1984)

24.    The Life and Times of Little Richard by Charles White (1984)

25.    A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn(1980)

26.    A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (1980)

27.    Interviews with Francis Bacon by David Sylvester (1980)

28.    Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler (1980)

29.    Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess (1980)

30.    Raw, a “graphix magazine” (1980–1991)

31.    Viz, magazine (1979–)

32.    The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels (1979)

33.    Metropolitan Life by Fran Lebowitz (1978)

34.    In Between the Sheets by Ian McEwan (1978)

35.    Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews by ed Malcolm Cowley (1977)

36.    The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind  by Julian Jaynes (1976)

37.    Tales of Beatnik Glory (public library) by Ed Saunders (1975)

38.    Mystery Train (public library) by Greil Marcus (1975)

39.    Selected Poems (public library) by Frank O’Hara (1974)

40.    Before the Deluge: A Portrait of Berlin in the 1920s (public library) by Otto Friedrich (1972)

41.    In Bluebeard’s Castle: Some Notes Towards the Re-definition of Culture by George Steiner (1971)

42.    Octobriana and the Russian Underground  by Peter Sadecky(1971)

43.    The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll by Charlie Gillett (1970)

44.    The Quest for Christa T by Christa Wolf (1968)

45.    Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock  byNik Cohn (1968)

46.    The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (1967)

47.    Journey into the Whirlwind by Eugenia Ginzburg (1967)

48.    Last Exit to Brooklyn  by Hubert Selby Jr. (1966)

49.    In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (1965)

50.    City of Night by John Rechy (1965)

51.    Herzog by Saul Bellow (1964)

52.    Puckoon by Spike Milligan (1963)

53.    The American Way of Death by Jessica Mitford (1963)

54.    The Sailor Who Fell from Grace With the Sea by Yukio Mishima (1963)

55.    The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin (1963)

56.    A Clockwork Orange  by Anthony Burgess (1962)

57.    Inside the Whale and Other Essays  by George Orwell (1962)

58.    The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (1961)

59.    Private Eye, magazine (1961–)

60.    On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious  by Douglas Harding (1961)

61.    Silence: Lectures and Writing by John Cage (1961)

62.    Strange People  by Frank Edwards (1961)

63.    The Divided Self  by R. D. Laing (1960)

64.    All the Emperor’s Horses  by David Kidd (1960)

65.    Billy Liar  by Keith Waterhouse (1959)

66.    The Leopard  by Giuseppe di Lampedusa (1958)

67.    On the Road by Jack Kerouac (1957)

68.    The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard (1957)

69.    Room at the Top by John Braine (1957)

70.    A Grave for a Dolphin by Alberto Denti di Pirajno (1956)

71.    The Outsider  by Colin Wilson (1956)

72.    Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955)

73.    Nineteen Eighty-Fourby George Orwell (1949)

74.    The Street by Ann Petry (1946)

75.    Black Boy  by Richard Wright (1945)

*source: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/10/03/david-bowie-reading-list/

And as always, read at your own risk.  IFPL is merely offering a list put together by an outside source, a source that may have added material that may be inappropriate for all readers. Thanks!