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!

E-Collection Requests

You can now make requests for the e-collection right on OverDrive!

This is how you can do it:

Search for the title... for example, I searched for "The Peach Keeper", and this is what OverDrive had to offer:

After I click on "Additional Titles to recommend", a new page appears with (hopefully) what I was looking for.  In this case, it did:

And now, you will have to be signed in with your library card number to recommend that the library purchase the book.  You will have the option to have the library just alert you when the title is purchased, or you can have the title put on hold for you when it's purchased.

Now you have made your recommendation!  You will be emailed as to when the title is purchased, and (if you requested it) when the book is ready for your download from your hold shelf.

Still have questions?  Please let us know...

See you in the library!

book clubs...

Are you in a book club?  

Do you know that we have book club boxes--with each box containing 10 copies of a book and information/questions about the book?

Did you know that you can vote on the new 2014 collection?

Head over to the Book Club page, read through the titles up for nomination, and vote right there on the blog... or come down to the library for your paper ballot.  Either way, please have your choices made by October 31, 2013.

Also, plan on attending the Book Club in a Box Debut night on January 13 at 7pm in the conference room.  We will announce the winners, talk about each of the books and start checking the boxes out!

Contact Jenniffer if you have questions

jhentzen@ifpl.org  or  612-8462

Summer Reading is here

It's back and better than ever... SUMMER READING!!

This summer, we challenge you to read (or listen to) any book you want... really, anything... fluffy fiction titles, informational non-fiction books, whatever you like!

After you read your book, add it to your reading log and bring your reading log to the library where you will receive a weekly prize drawing ticket for every book you've read--yeah, every book you read gets you a drawing ticket for a fantastic prize!!

In addition to all of the weekly prizes, we're also giving you 10 chances to win a $75 dollar gift card to one of Idaho Falls' great restaurants.  Just come to the library during the 10 weeks of summer reading, and visit with the librarians on the 3rd floor for your grand prize entry ticket... super easy!

And wait... there's more! If you feel up to a real test of your reading skills, try our genre challenge!  When you read books from five different genres, you will receive an IFPL summer reading book bag!

With so many ways to win great prizes just for READING, you'll want to get signed up and start as soon as possible!