Longtime Davis librarian looks out for students' needs

YAKIMA, Wash. -- There's no need to whisper.

Sure, she wants kids to keep the noise down. This is, after all, a library.

But it's not the kind of place where silence is golden and the librarian wears her hair in a tight bun atop her head, holds a finger to her lips and shushes people. Nor is it the kind of place where books are better on shelves and the number a student can check out or renew is limited.

Lynne Greene doesn't equate libraries with limitations. She focuses on flexibility and encourages kids to collaborate. And that means talking is allowed at Davis High School Library and Media Center.

"We want it to be a working envi-ronment, not a social environment," she says. "But we want it to be friendly."

Greene has spent the better part of the last three decades working to make the Davis library a warm and welcoming place, one where students want to be long after the last bell rings, and where community members as well as kids can borrow books and use computers.

She has served as the director of the library for 27 years under six different principals. And she has no plans to retire.

This is her domain. She jokes she might die here, face down in a book.

"It's more than a job," says the hands-on, on-the-go, award-winning and well-liked librarian. "It's a mission. It's something you believe in, something you love."

In all, Greene has put in 42 years in education as a librarian and teacher -- from California, Utah and New Mexico to White Swan and, finally, Yakima.

That tally puts her at the top of the seniority list for the Yakima Education Association, which represents more than 900 Yakima School District employees.

But when it comes to the question of retiring, Greene -- who recently celebrated a birthday (she won't say which one) -- gives a two-word answer: "Probably never."

It's the students, she says. They keep her going.

"Every day they give us hope, and every day they break our hearts," says Greene, who recently won the Governor's Volunteer Service Award for all the hours she's put in at the library -- from proofreading students' papers and writing letters of recommendation to serving as a shoulder to cry on.

Greene -- part cheerleader, part counselor and 100 percent fashion plate -- can often be found in the lib-
rary well past the hours she's con-tracted to work, helping students and sporting stylish shoes and haircuts, which she gets at Salon at Lakeside.

She's known for accessorizing and being color-coordinated as well as being a role model.

"She's like our second mom," says 17-year-old Fatima Valencia, who graduated from Davis on Wednesday. "She always tries to keep us focused, and she's a fashionista -- from her outfits to her hair to her nails to her make-up. We look up to her."

Before graduation, Valencia went to the library "everyday, sometimes Saturdays, too. It's a really cool environment."

The school library is open to anyone. Students and adults from throughout the Yakima Valley are welcome.

So, after graduation, "I'll probably still come here," says Valencia, who's off to Ellensburg to attend Central Washington University, which -- incidentally -- has its own library.

And that return rate is one of the reasons Davis teacher Doug Johnson nominated Greene for the Governor's Volunteer Service Award.

"Most people that manage programs as large as hers sit behind their desk, and are rarely seen," he says. "Lynne Greene is special because she exports her positive energy to whoever walks into the library. Whether you are the superintendent or a student, you are greeted with the same smile."

Greene traveled to the Governor's Mansion in Olympia in April to receive the award. And she's up for another honor this summer.

Her two staffers -- Susan Parker and Carrie Nelson -- are nominating her for the Washington Library Media Association's 2010 Outstanding Teacher-Librarian of the Year.

In their letter, they call the library "the hub and heartbeat" of the school, where challenges abound. About 74 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, nearly 33 percent are migrant and 19 percent are in transitional bilingual classes, according
to the Office of Superinten-dent of Public Instruction.

According to figures from the library, less than 40 percent have home Internet access. But it's not unusual to find students with online computers at home using the computers at the school library.

"They'd rather come here to work on computers than work at home," Parker says.

Parker and Nelson also commend Greene for her favorite, often-repeated advice: Show up, listen, ask questions, never give up.

That motto hangs on a banner in the library, a reminder to all students who visit -- an average of 185 every day after school.

"What I didn't anticipate originally is the number of kids that need a safe place to be at night, an environment that is conducive to learn-ing," Greene says. "We've got the kids that are here because they are trying to excel, and we've got the kids that are here because they don't want to go home. We've adapted for these students."

The library is open until 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until 4:30 p.m. on Friday. It's also open many Saturdays as well as much of the summer.

Those extended hours -- part of Greene's goal of making the library more accessible and user-friendly -- began seven years ago with a grant from the city of Yakima, which contributed about $17,000 for the 2003-04 school year. In 2005, the Yaki-
ma Valley Community Foun-dation gave about $14,000.

Today, the long hours and other services -- such as tutoring -- are funded through a combination of grants.

Student, teacher and YVCC tutors are available. So are 98 computers, Micro-
soft Office and Graphic Analysis programs, subscrip-tion databases, SAT prep classes, proofreading and help with scholarships, résumés, business letters, and college and job applications.

Partnerships with Perry Technical Institute, Yakima Valley Community College and Heritage University also support the library, which houses some 40,000 items, mostly books. About 150 per day -- or 24,000 per year -- are circulated.

"They do no good if they're on the shelves," says Greene, whose office is located just beyond the front counter. And her door, according to Parker and Nelson's nomination, "is never closed, and interruptions arrive in a constant, quick flow.

"She lays aside every-thing to meet student needs, realizing that immediacy is the key to encouraging young adults to return, and return, and return."

Return they do. The senior portraits on Greene's desk -- next to a paperback copy of "Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation" by Lynne Truss -- testify to that. Heartfelt notes of thanks --
handwritten in silver marker -- cover the black cardboard photo frames.

"You made me feel wel-come at a new school in the beginning & I always have the pleasure of saying my first friend at Davis was the greatest librarian ever," writes 2010 graduate Keith Kessinger.

"You were my angel ... You cheered me up and helped me ... " writes Leticia Navarro, another 2010 grad.

"I hope to grow up to be as in love with books as you are," writes Colleen Fontana, still another 2010 grad. "Thank you for being a constant support and inspiration to me and all the kids at Davis."

In addition to serving as library director, Greene chairs the school's Support Services Department as well as its Instructional Materials Committee.

She has also taught Eng-lish at YVCC, mentored high school students for their senior projects and advised clubs and activities -- from cheerleading and Modeling Club to National Honor Society and Guys Embracing Mind and Soul, or GEMS.

She and her late husband, Frank Greene, who died 10 years ago, also opened their home, taking in 10 displaced students during the course of 20 years.

They have two children of their own, too -- Trevor, the principal at Toppenish High School, and Adrienne, a teacher in Utah -- as well as eight grandchildren.

Greene was born in Utah and raised in Montana. She majored in English at Brigham Young University and came to the Yakima Valley in 1980, landing first in White Swan. She spent about three years teaching English at White Swan High School before making the move to Davis in 1983.

When Greene arrived at the Davis library, one of the first things she did was buy more paperbacks, which aren't as heavy as hardbacks and can easily be stuffed into a backpack. Her goal was to get more students reading and using the library.

Back then, "We were still splicing film. We had reel-to-reel movies. And we had just started computerizing the libraries," says Greene, who's adapted to the many changes in technology and information management and services that have evolved throughout the years.

In fact, she jokes the only things that remain the same since she started at Davis are the furniture, Dewey Decimal System and some of the books. The card catalogue -- once used to locate books -- is now on display, a relic of the way libraries used to operate.

"It's an antique," Greene says. "The entire way that we document things has changed."

These days, libraries in the Yakima School District are linked online. And Greene is always thinking ahead.

"Sometimes I think I create chaos around me," she says. "I think what can we do next? What do the kids need next?"

She wants to create a writing center with trained student editors as well as increase parent involvement. One idea is a mentor program that pairs native Spanish-speaking parents with native English-speaking parents to promote cross-cultural communication and understanding as well as language learning.

"I think this library is what a public high school library should be," she says.

* Adriana Janovich can be reached at 509-577-7653 or ajanovich@yakimaherald.com.