Amber Leigh Briggs

Current office and 2026 campaign

Amber Leigh Briggs, director of the Avery-Mitchell-Yancey Regional Library System ², is a Democratic candidate for the Yancey County Board of Commissioners in the November 3, 2026 general election, according to North Carolina State Board of Elections candidate filing records, where she is listed by her full name, Amber Westall Briggs ³.

Background and education

Briggs grew up in the South Toe River Valley in Yancey County and graduated from Mountain Heritage High School. She completed biology coursework at North Carolina State University, earned a Bachelor of Arts in Literature from Western Carolina University, and holds a Master of Library Science from Appalachian State University. She is a certified North Carolina public librarian ².

Career

Briggs began her library career as a volunteer with the Yancey County Friends of the Library in 2007 ². She joined the Yancey County Public Library staff in 2011 as an assistant librarian, later becoming Assistant Regional Director ¹². She was unanimously selected by the AMY Regional Board to become system director in 2015 ¹². Under her leadership the AMY system secured more than $500,000 in grants for digital-inclusion initiatives, including $225,000 from the High Country Council of Governments and $270,000 from the Dogwood Health Trust ². She received the North Carolina Library Director of the Year Award for 2024 from the Public Library Directors Association ².

Briggs serves on the boards of High Country Workforce Development, Mountain Community Health Partnership, and the State Library LSTA Grant Committee. She co-chairs the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival board and its Program Committee ².

Family

Briggs, the daughter of Forrest and Sabra Westall, grew up in the South Toe River Valley. She and her husband, Shane, have three children ².

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