Keystone Award-John Gillum
April 10, 2018 | By Shoal Creek Conservancy
In 2018, the Keystone Award goes to Mr. John Gillum for his work on developing the New Central Library on the banks of Shoal Creek in downtown Austin.
The Keystone Award is presented to a business or organization who serves as a cornerstone of the Shoal Creek community, through making a major, tangible impact on the health and beauty of Shoal Creek. We are proud to present John Gillum of the Austin Public Library (APL) with the 2018 Keystone Award. In his role as Facilities Process Manager with APL, Mr. Gillum led the development of the New Central Library on Shoal Creek in downtown Austin. The library and its beautiful landscaping are drawing more people than ever to Lower Shoal Creek, helping this stretch of Shoal Creek and its Trail to become a vibrant and welcoming outdoor destination.
Recently, the Austin Central Library was one of six libraries that received the 2018 Library Building Award for excellence in architectural design from the American Institute of Architects and the American Library Association.
Mr. Gillum also had a leadership role in the development of two other APL branches on Shoal Creek: the Yarborough Branch Library in the North Loop neighborhood, and the North Village Branch Library in the North Shoal Creek neighborhood.
Mr. Gillum has thirty-seven years experience in the planning, design, construction and management of public libraries primarily in the employment of the City of Austin. He has had experience in a dual role of planner and facility manager for this major, urban library system. This has enabled him to plan and manage library buildings, which are first and foremost aesthetically engaging, but also functional and sustainable.
His passion is always to create libraries beloved by their community for their architectural beauty, by librarians for how well their layouts serve them in providing the best library services, and by the stewards of their structures, for how soundly the buildings withstand the test of time.
Mr. Gillum has also prepared and carried out numerous propositions for the City of Austin GO Bond Elections resulting in the construction of six new branch libraries, a comprehensive engineering retrofit of the municipal archival depository, and the construction of a new central library.
Other projects include coordination of a metropolitan-wide library-remodeling program, including architectural modifications to comply with Americans with Disabilities (ADA) standards and engineering retrofits to achieve greater energy efficiency.
Please join us in congratulating Mr. Gillum!
The 2018 Shoal Creek Awards will be held on Tuesday, May 8, 2018, at the Cirrus Logic Conference Space, located at 700 West Avenue, Austin, TX 78701. A VIP reception runs from 5:00pm to 5:30pm, and the main reception runs from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.
Regular tickets, which provide access to the main reception, are $40. VIP tickets, which provide access to both the VIP reception and main reception, are $100. Tickets and information about event sponsors can be found here.
