Supervisors appoint new Tulare County librarian

The Tulare County Board of Supervisors announced today that Jeff Scott has been appointed county librarian.  

Scott replaces Brian Lewis, who retired on Dec. 29, 2012 after nearly 30 years as the Tulare County librarian.  

“Jeff’s years of experience with the Tulare County Library, work ethic, and leadership make him a great fit for county librarian,” Pete Vander Poel, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said in a county news release issued Tuesday. “We are confident that Jeff will continue to maintain and grow critical library services.”

Scott, who was the deputy county librarian, was serving as interim county librarian until the board’s announcement. During his time as deputy county librarian, Scott has introduced book machines in the community of Cutler and in Workforce Investment Board centers in Dinuba and Visalia. The project was featured as “Great in the State” by the California Library Association.  

“It is an honor and a privilege to be selected as the new county librarian,” Scott states in the press release. “I would like to thank the Tulare County Board of Supervisors for this important opportunity to serve our citizens.”

In his new role, Scott’s primary duties will be to oversee the day-to-day operations of 15 library branches throughout the county that provide reader’s advisory, information retrieval and programming services.

Prior to Tulare County, Scott was the library director for the city of Casa Grande Library for five years and the president of the Pinal County Library Federation for four years.

A native Californian, Scott grew up in Orange County before moving to Arizona to attend Arizona State University, where he majored in history. While an undergraduate, he began his library career as a library assistant at the Arizona Historical Foundation, an archive at ASU.

He earned a master’s of information and library science at University of Arizona.