Charles E. Beard was born in 1940 and grew up in Alabama. He received his B.A. from the University of Alabama and his M.S.L.S. from Florida State University. He began working at the Jacksonville Public Library in 1964, went into the Army and was a librarian there, and became an academic librarian in 1966 at University of Alabama Libraries. He remained an academic librarian the rest of his life. He became Director of Libraries at the University of West Georgia in 1978 and held this position until he retired in 2004. During his tenure as Library Director, Beard was very active in organizations like the American Library Association and the White House Conference on Library Information and Services Taskforce. He was also an integral part in the creation of the GALILEO system. GALILEO stands for Georgia Library Learning Online and is a virtual library with over one hundred databases and is available to K12 users as well as most higher education systems in Georgia.

Beard battled illness for months prior to his retirement and his retirement party was advanced to May 28, 2004 instead of the date that marked his twenty-sixth year of service, June 30. Beard's respiratory condition worsened right before his retirement party and he was unable to attend. More than 100 people came to the party to honor him. On June 2, 2004 Beard died at Emory Hospital in Atlanta. He is buried in Scottsboro, Alabama.