With a $33 million budget, about 400 employees who work in 21 locations and 3.4 million customers last year, the Jacksonville Public Library is a big business.
And its chief executive is being recognized as one of the best in the nation.
Library Director Barbara Gubbin will receive the 2017 Ernest A. DiMattia Jr. Award for Innovation and Service to Community and the Profession from the American Library Association.
The award recognizes a public librarian from among the more than 9,000 systems in the U.S. who demonstrates leadership in anticipating emerging trends in products, services and technologies that enhance the library’s position in the community.
This year marks Gubbin’s 40th as a public librarian, and she’s helped lead libraries — first in Texas and since 2005 in Jacksonville — into the technology age.
She said when she got her first job in a small library in San Antonio, the books were catalogued with a paper card system. Innovations like public computers and e-books were merely imaginations.
Gubbin has helped libraries evolve from traditional printed books toward digital materials including novels and reference books, music, video and global databases. During her career, public libraries also have become centers for adult learning, community interaction and workforce development.
Innovations that have occurred in Jacksonville’s libraries since 2005 started almost immediately with self-service checkout, allowing customers to scan books they want to borrow without having to stand in line.
“I was somewhat surprised when I got here that it wasn’t available. It wasn’t really innovative for public libraries, but it was innovative for Jacksonville,” Gubbin said.
A more recent innovation began in 2015 when the library partnered with Duval County Public Schools to introduce “virtual library cards” for kindergarten through fifth-grade students.
By merging the library card and student identification card databases, about 60,000 new library cards went into effect overnight — a record number of prospective customers for a single day.
The program expanded last year to include all public school students.
“We were among the first tier of libraries to establish the virtual cards,” Gubbin said.
Jacksonville also introduced Project LEAP — the Library Enhanced Access Program — in 2015. It sends librarians with computers and other resources to community centers in underserved neighborhoods to promote literacy for all age groups.
It’s part of the library’s education component that has grown to more than 1,200 classes a year, said Gubbin.
Gubbin also cited BrightStart!, a library partnership with Nemours Children’s Hospital that offers early childhood literacy training for parents of children through age 5.
She helped develop library partnerships with the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville to create reading lists related to the group’s guest speakers.
A partnership with the Jacksonville Symphony has library staff providing pre-concert programs and presenting music programs for children at libraries. The symphony reciprocates by offering discounts on tickets for library customers.
Gubbin is a co-founder of Cultural Fusion, a group effort with the Museum of Science & History, Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens and the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens to develop programs complementary to each organization’s mission.
But even with the technical advances and new programs, the library remains about people.
“I think public libraries have been particularly successful in balancing technology with the personal touch,” Gubbin said. “Technology lets some people do more for themselves and that lets librarians focus more on customers who need our help.”
Gubbin said while the plaque will have her name inscribed upon it, she will accept it on behalf of not only herself, but also the board of trustees and the entire Jacksonville Public Library team.
“I am very honored, but we all work together to change lives every day,” she said.
Gubbin will receive the award and a $5,000 grant that comes with it in June at the American Library Association’s annual conference in Chicago.
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