Cara Burton is the Library System Director for Eastern Shore Public Library, a system of four public libraries serving Accomack and Northampton Counties on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. She has been with ESPL since January 2016, when the Trustees began designing a $5.5 million Regional Library and ESVA Heritage Center, building nonprofit capacity, developing a Heritage Hub, creating a Culture of Reading, and increasing library system capacity.
Cara Burton received her Masters in Library Science from Syracuse University in 1987. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Syracuse University in 1986. Cara worked for Borden, Inc. ten years as their Technical Information Manager, responsible for research archives dating back to the 19th century. Projects included being a member of the project team to develop a wallpaper archives database. She was Director of the LaFayette Public Library, LaFayette, NY, serving the Onondaga Nation for two years. As Director of the Solvay Public Library, Solvay, NY, she oversaw a $3 million addition to a Carnegie library which included an archives room for the Solvay Process Collection. She moved to Danville, Virginia to serve as Executive Director of the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History for three years. In 2016, Cara returned to her family’s ancestral home since 1635 to become the library director.
Chris Pote, CA, is the ESVA Heritage Center Manager and joined the staff in May 2022. He received his Masters of Science in Library Science (MSLIS) from The Catholic University of America in 2007 after obtaining his Bachelor of Arts in History from The Pennsylvania State University. He was previously the certified archivist at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria Virginia and the Archivist for the African American Episcopal Historical Collection housed at the Seminary. Pote is a member of the Society of American Archivists, the Academy of Certified Archivists, and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference.
Jazmine Collins is the Circulation and Reference Manager for Eastern Shore Public Library. She has been with ESPL since 2017 as a Library Specialist and assisting in local history. She has been involved in the digitization of the Frances Bibbins Latimer Collection. She is currently handling local history reference questions.
Jazmine received her Associates Degree from ESCC in 2012 and attended Old Dominion University and is now pursing her degree in History from Southern New Hampshire University. She worked as an Independent Living Advocate with the Eastern Shore Center for Independent Living, a non-profit which works to support community living and independence for people with disabilities, for more than 5 years, before taking a full-time position with the library.