Jacksonville Public Library Blog

Celebrate our community's deep pool of creative talent on the first Wednesday of each month in Downtown Jacksonville! The Main Library is directly across from James Weldon Johnson Park, from one of Art Walk's three major hubs of activity. We host student art shows, teen open mic nights and more! Plus, it's the perfect time to take a self-guided tour of murals, maps and public art found throughout your library headquarters.

Welcome to a new month of the 2023 Jax Stacks Reading Challenge! We are going to give you suggestions for each* category in the challenge every month so that you always have a great library book waiting for you when you need it. Plus, you can share what you're reading with other Jax Stacks readers at our monthly Jax Stacks Reading Challenge Book Club. Note: Our June meeting takes place at the Beaches Branch Library!

Summer is a time for adventure, exploration, and spending time with loved ones. It's a time when families and communities come together to create memories and share experiences. In this picture book list of reads, we explore the theme of "all together now" through stories that celebrate togetherness, teamwork, and inclusivity. From a wombat offering his home to unexpected guests to learning to say hello in different languages, these books are sure to inspire children to appreciate the beauty of working together and the importance of being kind and supportive of one another.

Just as it was once a central location for the film industry before there was a Hollywood, Jacksonville was a sister city to New Orleans in ushering in the age of jazz. Before the suburbs expanded and Jacksonville grew to the county-wide residential area it is today, the vibrant downtown area between Ashley and Broad Street was known as the Harlem of the South. The heart of the jazz scene in north Florida, it would host the biggest names of the day and see the emergence of up and coming jazz artists such as Ray Charles.