by Natasha Khairullah
Staff Writer
Mayor John Peyton and a panel of leaders in American Libraries all met Wednesday for “Destination Next: The Library Summit.”
The event, held in the Main Library Conference Center, was sponsored by Mayor John Peyton and the Jacksonville Public Library and featured lectures by six guest speaker followed by five breakout sessions facilitated by each speaker on topics including, The Library as a Place for Discovery and The Brave New World of Electronic Resources.
The main goal of the summit was to generate discussion and to obtain community input, according to Stacie Bucher, spokeswoman for the library.
“This summit was not necessarily to educate but for the community to give their input,” said Bucher. “We want to find out what services they need and what programs they’d like to see.”
Joy Korman of the Library Board of Trustees said that as part of the library’s larger strategic planning process, the summit was also being held in hopes of obtaining tools and ideas to better equip the new $99 million facility to serve the city as well as increase early literacy.
Peyton echoed Korman’s thoughts and emphasized the importance of early education and the availability of literacy programs for all individuals, but especially children.
“Early literacy is the best indictor for how well students will do and how far they will go,” said Peyton, adding that delivering more well-prepared students to schools is imperative to their success during school and beyond.
“The City and the library are trying to do this through the efforts of the literacy programs we have in place,” he said.
Also discussed at the summit was the mayor’s approval of the library’s acceptance of a grant from Comcast that would allow access to digital audio books.
The six speakers included Martin Gomez, president of the Urban Libraries Council, Melanie Huggins, director of the St. Paul’s Public Library in Charlotte, N.C., Lesley Williams, head of Information Services at Evanston Public Library in Illinois, Carlton Sears, executive director of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County in Ohio, Linda Miller, president of MLA Techwork and Bill Wilson of Himmel & Wilson Library Consultants.
Bucher said that as of right now, the planning process is scheduled to continue until February.