It’s a long way from Southern California to Jacksonville. It also is a long way from a career in pharmacy to being the first director of the law library at Jacksonville University College of Law.
Colleen Skinner grew up in Los Angeles and was working as a pharmacy technician with a two-year degree.
“I realized I was doing all the work while the pharmacists were reading the newspaper, so I decided to go back to school to get my pharmacy degree,” Skinner said.
After beginning classes at Southern Oregon University, Skinner discovered that the science side of pharmacy didn’t interest her, but the legal side did, so she made a decision and changed her major to criminology.
“I realized I wanted to go to law school,” Skinner said.
She also decided it was time for another change of scenery. This time not just north up the West Coast but to the other side of the U.S.
“I wanted to live somewhere with a good cost of living where I could afford to own a house. I also wanted to live somewhere that had an NFL team, so I came to Jacksonville.”
She enrolled at Florida Coastal School of Law in 2005 and then had another change of heart in terms of career when she got to know some practitioners.
“One told me he had 2,400 billable hours a year. That’s a lot. Another said they didn’t take vacations because when they did, there were 500 substantive emails waiting for them when they got back in the office,” Skinner said.
Spending time in the law library, Skinner made an observation that put her on a permanent career path.
“I realized that the librarians weren’t stressed. I got a job at the reference desk while I was a student. I realized I was good at helping people find what they needed.”
Skinner started teaching research workshops to her fellow students and by the time she was ready to graduate in 2008, she knew she wanted to make the law library her career instead of the boardroom or the courtroom.
Skipping the Bar exam, Skinner went to work full-time in Florida Coastal’s library.
In order to be a librarian, you have to have a master’s in library science. Florida Coastal paid for her to take a two-year online degree program at Florida State University.
“It was difficult, but nothing compared to law school,” Skinner said.
After more than 11 years at Florida Coastal, in 2019 Skinner went to work for the Jacksonville Public Library system, where she stayed until becoming JU’s first law librarian in June 2022.
“When they showed me the library space at VyStar Tower, there was a glass table with a dolphin under it. They told me that classes would begin in August,” Skinner.
The law school began classes in its permanent campus at 121 W. Forsyth St. in August 2024. Skinner moved into the law library that occupies much of the second floor of the three-story urban campus.
In addition to her library duties, Skinner is an assistant professor who teaches research classes.
“It’s perfect for me. Teaching mixed with the law that I love and research every day is a treasure hunt,” she said.
The first class of 14 students will graduate this spring and will take the Florida Bar exam in July. Skinner has gotten to know each of them over the past three years.
“Every day is different and I like working with the students. It is their dream to go to law school. All of us together, it’s our job to help them reach that end goal to graduate and take the Bar exam and become a successful attorney,” Skinner said.