City Manager Names New Library Director

El Segundo’s library director will take over as chief librarian for the city of Burbank starting Feb. 10, it was announced Monday.

Barbara J. Pearson will become the city’s library services director, managing a staff of 84 employees at Burbank’s central library and two branches, according to City Manager Bud Ovrom, who made the appointment.

She will oversee a $4.2-million annual budget for the city’s libraries, which collectively circulated 655,000 books last year.

Pearson fills the vacancy left by Sandra Christopher, who retired Dec. 16. The new director inherits the task of overseeing the construction of a Buena Vista library branch to replace the current one at the corner of Buena Vista Street and Verdugo Avenue.

For the past 10 years, Pearson has served as the library director for the city of El Segundo, where she was credited with leading a library renovation and expansion project. She also implemented a joint school-public library database.

“I think she brings a wealth of experience to this job,” said Ovrom, who added that Pearson was “on top of the current and future trends” of library technology.

A graduate of UC Santa Barbara with a master’s in library science from UCLA, Pearson has also worked at Covina Public Library, Honnold Library for the Claremont Colleges and Ontario City Library. She served as a network administrator for the Online Computer Library Center’s Pacific Division, where she handled public library contracts and coordinated scheduling for telecommunications hook-ups.

The monthly salary range for Pearson’s position is $6,639 to $8,066, according to city officials.