Jessica Cadiente

Jessica Cadiente has worked in public libraries for over twenty-five years. She has been the Library Director for the City of Santa Barbara since 2015 and supports a team of professional librarians and library staff in creating and maintaining hundreds of programs and events each year. Under her leadership, SBPL has introduced an Adult Education Division, expanded youth classes to include coding, robotics, virtual reality and drone technologies, introduced small business resources, and solidified partnerships throughout Santa Barbara. SBPL’s most recent achievements include adopting a fine free check-out policy, launching the Student Success Initiative with the Santa Barbara Unified School District, ensuring that every child has access to library resources for free, and the creation of a Spanish Outreach team to expand access to Library services to our Spanish speaking population. Jessica secured funding to introduce a new mobile library in 2020 and has led SBPL in securing millions of dollars in grant funds and private donations, including the recent Library Plaza Capital Campaign that secured $5M to renovate the Library Plaza into a downtown community space.  

Over the course of her career, Jessica has worked in almost every role within a public library. She has worked in libraries throughout Arizona, including Peoria and Flagstaff, and prior to coming to Santa Barbara, she was the Library Director in Lompoc, CA. She received a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and a master’s degree in Library and Information Science from San Jose State University. She was selected as a Leadership Fellow for the Public Library Association in 2017 and has also served as a mentor to new librarians through the Library Leadership and Management Association’s mentee program. She currently serves on the California Library Association’s Legislative and Advocacy Committee and the State Library’s Sustainable Libraries Committee.