Santa Barbara City Hall is paying embattled former library director Jessica Cadiente $500,000 to settle a claim she filed after being placed on paid indefinite administrative leave a year ago in response to publicly undisclosed conduct. The settlement covers attorneys fees as well. The settlement prevents the dispute from escalating into a potentially long, drawn out and potentially very expensive courthouse trial during which both sides’ dirty laundry would get a good airing out. While Cadiente never filed legal papers against City Hall, she did put city administrators on notice that such a legal action was in the works; that matter was discussed by councilmembers in closed session.
Cadiente served as library director for 10 years. In that time she enjoyed a reputation as an innovative, visionary leader, fiercely seeking new ways to maintain the relevance of libraries — particularly among young people and underserved communities — in an increasingly digital age. That ferocity, however, proved a double-edged sword. Cadiente was seen by some as a doesn’t-play-well-in-the-sandbox administrator who was rough-around-the-edges when it came to her management style.
Almost from the start of her tenure, the library experienced an exodus of high ranking, high achieving, high profile employees. The turnover rate at the library under Cadiente’s reign was 24.53 percent between the years 2014 and 2017. That’s considered unusually high by public agency standards. Cadiente suggested that number is inflated, saying it includes temporary workers, interns, and probationary employees. She added that those numbers do not acknowledge the mandated layoffs of hourly staff that took place during COVID.
Cadiente was a change agent almost from the day she took over. Old, unread books were winnowed from the stacks; the reference desk’s mass of local news-clippings — painstakingly assembled over decades — were shunted off to the Genealogical Society and Historical Museum. Visually, the downtown library took on a much more open feel, making many longtime patrons pine for the clutter of books. On the flip side, Cadiente embraced digital technology and strived to use her facilities as a bridge for the digital divide when it came to income and ethnicity. When contemporary authors came to UC Santa Barbara, the library snagged them for discussions with younger patrons.
Cadiente became a bit of a lone ranger when it came to using the downtown library as a portal for those living on the streets when it came to getting “document ready” and getting connected with social service providers. Her homeless outreach efforts preceded the development of the new FARO day center — which opened this past year — and met an undeniably real need. Around City Hall, her get-shit-done vibe generated concerns that it upset the library’s ever delicate balancing act. Some die-hard library patrons were made uncomfortable by the de facto homeless sanctuary the library had become and its transition toward a big city–style social services hub.
Over time, Cadiente developed a reputation for the sharpness of her elbows, for example, when the City of Santa Barbara withdrew from the decades-old Black Gold inter-library loan system. Black Gold, which other libraries continue to use, allows patrons from one library district to seamlessly get books held by other districts and not have to travel to those other district libraries. At issue in that meltdown was whether the City of Santa Barbara was shouldering a disproportionate cost burden. Around City Hall, many felt Cadiente made a good point but were troubled nonetheless by what they described as the take-no-prisoners vigor with which she made it.
Such a style is especially problematic in a department in which many sectors of the community feel an intense level of emotional ownership. For this community, the library is almost sacred space, the place many people went when they were young and needed escape, inspiration, and sanctuary. As such, it’s a place — not merely a branch of government — that demands an especially deft touch.
In a statement released by Cadiente and her attorney, Christina Humphrey, she expressed pride in making the library more “dynamic and inclusive,” getting the just completed library plaza funded, and keeping the lights on and the doors open during such prolonged catastrophes as the Thomas Fire and the COVID pandemic.
