Jacksonville Library Program

When the city of Jacksonville needed a program manager for its $150 million library program, they selected Heery International because of the firm’s expertise in managing a design competition, as well as experience with a variety of project delivery systems, such as construction management at-risk, design/bid/build, furniture/fixtures/equipment contracts, telecommunication and information technology contracts and security consultants.  In addition to construction program management, Heery provided commissioning services to the Jacksonville Public Library system.

Located on an entire city block in downtown Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Main Library was the largest part of the library program.  Upon completion in December 2004, the library housed 1.25 million volumes, along with approximately 350 computer stations dispersed throughout the building.  The city estimates approximately 3,000-5,000 citizens per day visited the library to access its special collections (African-American, Florida, Geneology, Government, Periodicals), as well as general fiction, non fiction, children’s, teen’s and popular titles sections.  The library includes a gift shop, café, auditorium and several meeting and conference rooms.  Visitors are also  able to use their own laptop computers throughout the building, tapping into the numerous ports and wireless internet zone from anywhere inside the library.

In addition to the Main Library, the program included six new branch libraries and the renovation and/or expansion of 12 existing libraries, as well as a 720-car parking deck adjacent to the main library.