The City of Jacksonville released the following statement on August 16, 2021,
“The State of Florida, in partnership with the City of Jacksonville, will be shifting the Regeneron Antibody Treatment Site to the Main Library Conference Center, 304 North Main Street via the Main Street Entrance in downtown Jacksonville on Tuesday, August 17.”
That was the last day our Main Library building was open and running as a library, rather than a makeshift medical clinic.
Relocating the Regeneron Antibody Treatment Site to the library was the brainchild of Gov. DeSantis and Mayor Curry. Two elected officials made the decision. This despite the fact that the Jacksonville Public Library is one of the few departments of the City Government to be administered by an independent board. The eleven members of the Library Board of Trustees are appointed by the Mayor of Jacksonville and approved by the City Council. Board members serve for four years, and may serve a second consecutive term if reappointed. The Library Board approves library policies, submits an annual budget request, oversees the operation of the system and hires the library director.
The Library Board of Trustees was not consulted in the decision to relocate the Regeneron Antibody Treatment Site to the Library, nor were they consulted when the decision was made to close the Library, allowing the Regeneron Antibody Treatment Site sole use of the building.
JPL employees were originally told they would be resigned to branch libraries only for a “couple of days”. It has been over a month and the Main Library remains closed to all save Regeneron Antibody Treatment patients.
When Jax Examiner pressed COJ for a timeline of when the Library would reopen as a Library, city spokeswoman Nikki Kimbleton stated,
“There are no immediate plans to reopen,”
“There are no formal documents or contracts for the use of the space,” Kimbleton said in an email. “The library is being provided without a charge so that residents can easily access this treatment.”
That may be the case but there is a charge, rather a cost, a heavy one to the community that lives and works nearby as well as the larger community that makes up Duval County.
The Main Library is our main library. It is the main source of knowledge and information as well as a provider of many services that can not be found anywhere else, not even at one of our branch libraries.
There is also money being lost. JPL charges $6000 an hour for use of the conference center, just the center. The Regeneron Clinic has the entire building. Over $50,000.00 being siphoned from JPL, daily.
Internet/computer access provided by the Main Library helps to bridge the gap between disadvantage and opportunity.
Our Main Library has 250 computers, 5 to 25 times the number at an average branch library within the system.
Those computers provide over 5,000 people daily the opportunity to look for work, make a resume, register or take college classes, research school work, renew their driver’s license and a host of other online actions that those with ready access, such as Gov. DeSantis and Mayor Curry, take for granted.
That’s just computers. There are books, multimedia, art, and an assortment of other collections that are not available anywhere else in the JPL system. All of that knowledge, all of those resources are now locked behind doors that only open for Regeneron patients.
Those needing “Talking Books”, a resource for those with disabilities, are being redirected to the Daytona Beach library, the nearest library system, besides our own Main Library, that offers the program.
If only that clinic could have been placed somewhere else.
Well, it could have, and it should have. Just off the top of my head, what about the Prime Osborn Convention Center? What about any of the hundreds of empty buildings, both government and privately owned, around the city?
There are over 60 just in the core downtown area alone, 11 of them are owned by COJ*.
Or what about keeping the Regeneron Clinic where it was?
It was in a Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department emergency operations trailer. That unit could only serve 100 patients a day. The Main Library site serves 300.
So why didn’t we just get another two trailers? Downtown has over 150 acres of vacant land* the majority of it is owned by COJ or the State of Florida. There are plenty of places to set up mobile Regeneron Clinics.
But no, two elected officials decided to take away city services from an entire city to help 300 people a day. That math just doesn’t add up.
And talk about timing! Next week is Banned Books Week 2021. Banned Books Week is the annual celebration of the freedom to read. In Jacksonville we have gone from banning books to banning libraries.
It is more important than ever to remember that libraries are the gateways to knowledge and culture, libraries play a fundamental role in society. The resources and services they offer create opportunities for learning, support literacy and education, and help shape the new ideas and perspectives that are central to a creative and innovative society.
*The Jessie Ball duPont Fund “Downtown Jacksonville Our Assets and Opportunities”