E. Lorene Flanders served as Professor and Director of University Libraries from 2005 to January 2010 and as Professor and Dean of University Libraries from January 2010 to 2017. In 2008, she founded the Ingram Library's Penelope Melson Society, a friends' group that sponsored exhibits, programs, and other events within the Library and on campus for a decade. Under her leadership, the Ingram Library initiated an eight million dollar renovation in tribute to late Georgia House Speaker Thomas B. Murphy with funds appropriated during the 2008 Georgia state legislative session.

Prior to her appointment at the University of West Georgia, Flanders served on the library faculty at Georgia College & State University where she participated in the planning and construction of the $20 million Russell Library & Information Technology Center, worked with a cross-campus team to develop educational programs centered around Georgia’s Old Governor’s Mansion, and was a founding member and president of the Milledgeville Heritage Foundation.

She earned an A.B. degree in American Studies from Wesleyan College, the MLN from the University of South Carolina, and an MA in History from Georgia College.