Dr. Daniel Barron, is a 7th generation WNC native who graduated from Appalachian State, was a high school librarian in Gastonia, and received his MLIS, AMLIS, and Ph.D. from Florida State University. He retired as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus from the School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina after 30 years as a faculty member and Director of the School. He has taught using every distant delivery system available from live satellite TV in the 80’s to online courses before retiring in 2006 with nearly a thousand graduates in Maine, West Virginia, Georgia, Virginia and of course South Carolina.
He has worked with library and higher education projects in China, Japan, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa, Malaysia, and 37 of the 50 states. Three weeks after retiring from USC, he accepted an Interim Directorship with the Avery Mitchell Yancey Regional Library, fell in love with the job, applied for the position, and was appointed Director in 2007 from which he retired in 2015 and as a member of the North Carolina State Library Commission. In this iteration of his retirement/repurposement he claims the titles of Community Activist, Cultural Dabbler, Shade Tree Mechanic, and ¼ Inch Carpenter. He is a Guardian ad Litem; local history researcher/writer; and has been a board member of Toe River Valley Watch since 2006.
He works also with the Mitchell Yancey Substance Abuse Task Force, Carolina Mountains Literary Festival, Blue Ridge Resources Conservation and Development Council, Mitchell County Animal Rescue, and Bakersville Community Foundation.
