Jacksonville Public Library Blog

December Art Walk: Winter in the South and Pop of Color

Celebrate our community's deep pool of creative talent with us on the first Wednesday of each month in Downtown Jacksonville! The Main Library stays open until 9 p.m. for the festivities! We are conveniently located directly across from James Weldon Johnson Park, one of Art Walk's two major hubs of activity. Not only that, there is usually local art on display, zinesters meeting and collaborating on the first floor, tabletop gamers doing one-shot adventures, and special drop-in activities going on in the Teen Room.

Jax Stacks Book Recommendations: A Book Under 300 Pages

Have you completed the 2023 Jax Stacks Reading Challenge?! Throughout the year, we've been giving you suggestions for each* category in the challenge via email and blog every month so that you would always have a great library book waiting for you if you needed it. If you've missed any of these recommendations, check our blog archive! If you want a prize, you've got until December 31, 2023, to cross off at least 12 of those categories. In the meantime, free to share your progress and recommendations on social media using #jaxstacks.

Save Lives, Give Blood, Receive Cool Thank-Yous!

Oh the places you'll Give. Give blood, save lives at several Jacksonville Public Library locations during the holiday season

With the blood supply running critically low, your community needs you more than ever. Donate now and save lives. LifeSouth Community Blood Centers and Jacksonville Public Library are working together to make donating convenient for you. Donors will receive a $20 e-gift card, a special holiday t-shirt, and the satisfaction of saving local lives! LifeSouth is a nonprofit that provides blood for 80% of the local hospital beds in your community, including every Lv.1 and Lv.2 Trauma center!

History Chat: Red Hill Cemetery Project

The Red Hill Cemetery Project documents an African American Cemetery in Waycross Georgia with more than 1000 burials dating from the late nineteen century. Researchers from UNF and the Okefenokee Heritage Center are documenting the site, digitizing death certificates, collecting oral histories, and scanning additional documents (photographs, funeral home records, etc). The project is multi-disciplinary and includes contributors from Archaeology, History, and Geography. UNF professors David Sheffler, Felicia Bevel, and Michael Boyles will speak about the project and its importance to local history.

December Life Lit Workshops: Help Wildlife Weather the Winter or Measure Your Entrepreneurial Mindset

If you're cold, they're cold. Don't forget about the critters this winter! Join us for some DIY gardening projects that will help your native wildlife weather the season (and prepare for the coming spring). Learn these tips and more from Master Gardeners and our friends at the UF Extension Office! Plus, there's another "Entrepreneurship Basics" workshop with our partners at EY. Measure your entrepreneurial mindset for FREE at the Library!

Join a Book Club at the Library this December

The holiday season is here! With all the parties and get-togethers, it can be a busy time. Plus, there's all that shopping, cooking and decorating! You should definitely reward yourself for all of that hard work by taking the time to read a good book! If you're looking for ideas about what to read or looking for the perfect gift for the book lovers in your life, join us at Library Book Club!

Adult Programs at the Library this December

We're closing out the year with some very cool programs and a ton of great book clubs! Get caught up in a good book with "Tangled Webb," a brand new Book Club meeting at Webb Wesconnett Regional Library. If you're interested in local history and memoirs, don't miss the Lit Chat Interview with Nat Glover. At seventeen, he unknowingly headed into an angry white mob and the Ku Klux Klan attacking young black protestors staging a sit-in at a downtown whites-only lunch counter. Known as “Ax Handle Saturday,” this harrowing encounter with racism would commit him to a lifetime of fighting for justice. December is also the last month to check off 12 books and win a cool prize for the 2023 Jax Stacks Reading Challenge. A new challenge (and new categories) start January 1, 2024!

Support Local Authors This Holiday Season and All Year Long

Shop Local Read Local Saturday, November 25

Saturday, November 25, 2023, is Small Business Saturday – a day to celebrate and support small businesses, artists, local authors, and other creators! Of course, we hope you support local authors all year long! In addition to our annual Jax Book Fest which features dozens of local authors, we also invite local authors and creators to talk about (and sign) their books at Lit Chat Author Talks and Interview programs. While these events are free to attend, they are a great way for authors to find new readers and for readers to find new authors!

Books to Celebrate Native American Heritage

National Native American Heritage Month acknowledges the many historical contributions and present-day achievements of America's indigenous people. This celebration also pays tribute to their rich ancestry and traditions, many of which are still observed by nations and tribes across the United States. Jacksonville Public Library has an AMAZING collection of books featuring stories and information written by and about people from varied backgrounds, races, ethnicities, life experiences, and viewpoints. We love to share selections that demonstrate the range of our collection all year and we encourage you to explore these books with us this month and all year long!

Lit Chat Interview with Lifetime Fighter for Justice, Nat Glover

Nat Glover was born in 1943, in segregated Jacksonville, Florida. At seventeen, he unknowingly headed into an angry white mob and the Ku Klux Klan attacking young black protestors staging a sit-in at a downtown whites-only lunch counter. Known as “Ax Handle Saturday,” this harrowing encounter with racism would commit him to a lifetime of fighting for justice. He joined the Jacksonville Police Department in 1966 where he was promoted to detective, rose to sergeant, and was appointed the city’s first hostage negotiator. In 1995, Duval County voters elected him the first Black sheriff in Florida since Reconstruction. Hear more about his incredible work and his new memoir, Striving for Justice: A Black Sheriff.