Dr. William (Bill) K. Finley was born in Franklin, Virginia where he grew up with his mother, father, and younger brother. His father was an accountant for a major paper manufacturing company and his mother was a teacher before having children and after Bill and his brother were grown. Finley attended Franklin High School before going to college. He attended the College of William and Mary where he earned his BA in English. He also attended the University of Kentucky, where he earned his MA in English; Duke University where he earned his PhD in English; and the University of South Carolina where he earned his MLS degree. Finley joined the ROTC program while at William and Mary and was given a choice of service. He chose to serve 6 months active duty (which was later reduced to 4 months) and then 6 years as reserve. The reduction in service requirement, Finley states, was due to the winding down of operations in the Vietnam War and an excess of officers in the military. After graduating from the University of Kentucky and serving his required active duty, Finley next started teaching at Old Dominion University in 1970, where he taught for two years. He realized he liked teaching, but that he needed to go back for his PhD. He chose to attend Duke University. He attended Duke for four years (1973-1976), where he also taught courses. Finley next went to Concord College (now University) to teach for 11 years (1976-1987). Finley attained tenure while at Concord College, but wanted to change careers by this time. He went to the University of South Carolina to attain his MLS degree and next worked at Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University for 5 years (1988-1992) as an archivist. Wanting to be more involved in creating collections, Finley next worked at the College of Charleston as Head of Special Collections from 1992-1998. Finley discusses at length his career as Head of Special Collections and University Archives at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he worked from 1998-2013. Finley discusses several of the people with whom he worked at UNCG; changes in the department under his leadership, and in the library; favorite collections and books; and expansion of the department's focus, role, and collections over his career. Finley concludes the interview by talking about the work he has done since retirement, including serving on the Greensboro Public Library friends board (including as President) and doing short story sessions at Friend's Homes Greensboro.