Debra G. Skinner

— Biography from the 2021 Fall Commencement program —

Ms. Skinner received her Masters of Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina in 1991. She also holds MEd, and EdS degrees in Educational Library Media from Georgia Southern. At the time of her retirement, she had served Georgia Southern with distinction for 20 years. She joined Henderson library as a Cataloging Librarian in 2001, earned tenure and promotion in 2007, became assistant department head in 2009, and interim department head in 2015, before assuming permanent status in 2018. Prior to joining Georgia Southern, she served at Savannah Country Day School from 1995 to 2001, and at Savannah Technical Institute from 1983 to 1995. Ms. Skinner served on the state level “Next Generation Library Platform” planning committee prior to adoption of Ex Libris’ Alma, the integrated library system. She also served for two years as chair of the GALILEO Interconnected Libraries Cataloging Functional Team. She served in this capacity during the initial years of setting up and implementing Alma when decisions were being made and cataloging changes that are in use to date were first established. Ms. Skinner was the leader at both local and state levels in initial setup of Georgia Southern’s Institutional repository and later adoption of Digital Commons as its platform. She worked with the Dean of Libraries to move from a “just in case” approval plan for acquiring resources to an “on demand” method, allowing the purchase of faculty and students’ needs to build a collection that meets the educational mission of the institution. She served the University as a senator for two terms, and she has served on several statewide committees. Her record of scholarly activities includes peer-reviewed publications and presentations at state, regional, and national professional conferences. Ms. Skinner mentored many staff and students to become librarians. Some were already on this path, and she encouraged them to achieve their professional goals, but a few students had never considered librarianship as a career path before working in her department. For these and other contributions to the University Libraries, the University, and the profession, Ms. Skinner has earned the title of Associate Professor and Head of Collection Services Emerita.*