On Time, on Budget: Kim Fuller, District of Columbia Public Library

Just as project manager Kim Fuller was celebrating the opening of Washington, DC's Southeast Branch, whose renovation she had presided over, chief librarian Ginnie Cooper asked her to handle the makeover of the Black Studies Center at the city's main library as well—and complete it in three months flat. Fuller says, “I was so tired that delirium took hold, and I agreed.”

Cooper's confidence was not misplaced. With just a $20,000 grant from Idearc Media, 88 Idearc employee volunteers, a few contractors, and staff, Fuller brought the project in, on time and on budget. She also met the other goal, that the makeover of this DCPL crown jewel, a special collection not renovated since the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library opened in 1972, make the same impact as Southeast's renovation. Fuller opened up the space, improved the lighting, created a zone for quiet study, added vibrant color, and installed end-of-stack larger-than-life-size photos of African American heroes.

Fuller says her secret for all construction projects is to convince herself that she can meet the deadline and then take “the appropriate actions to make it reality.”