BOUND TOGETHER STAFF RALLIES FOR SCHOOL LIBRARIAN.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

PALMDALE - When 18-year Ocotillo School librarian Mary Wells got a layoff notice this spring, co-workers came up with a plan to make sure she would not be forgotten.

To honor Wells, the school's first and only librarian, school staff asked parents to donate hardcover books in her name and successfully lobbied the school board to approve naming the library after her.

``She's the best. She's the one that other librarians go to for training and mentoring. She is absolutely wonderful,'' Principal Kathy Wehunt said.

``She has a heart of gold. She is willing to do anything and everything to make sure that kids develop a love of reading and learning,'' fifth-grade teacher Derek Treichelt said.

``I can remember times where we needed extra staff to go to outdoor school up in the mountains. Mary, her own children grown, would give up a week of her own to go up with the kids and would drag her husband along,'' Treichelt said. ``When you ask Mary to do something, it's not yes or no. It's 'how soon do you need it?'''

In the end, Wells will in all likelihood keep her job at least for another year. The board in March cut $469,000 in district-level funding for school library services, but left it open to principals to fund the library clerk positions out of school funds.

Wehunt has pledged to use school site funds to pay for Wells' salary.

``All the librarians in the district work as hard as I do or harder. They all deserve to be supported the way I have been supported,'' said Wells, 57, who has worked 28 years in the Palmdale School District.

The board in a special meeting May 31 voted unanimously to name the Ocotillo library after Wells, expediting what usually is a lengthy process and going against a policy of not naming buildings after someone who is alive.

Wells was honored last week during the school's open house. She was given flowers and plaques that said Mary Wells Library at Ocotillo Elementary School.

About 200 new books were donated, worth about $3,000, and in each will be placed a sticker that will indicate the name of the donating family.

When Ocotillo was built, students who attended what was then the kindergarten-through-eighth grade Juniper School moved over to the new campus.

Wells started with a library collection of hand-me-down books from Juniper, many of them dated.

``We had books that said someday man will reach the moon or young ladies can be nurses and men can be doctors. Some showed the last time the book was checked out was in 1959,'' Treichelt said.

Wells got a startup book budget of $30,000, but that did not go far. Over the years, Wells has built up the library's collection from less than 3,000 volumes to 15,000 volumes, Treichelt said.

Wells has supplemented state funding with PTA donations and two book fairs a year that bring in about $4,000.

With that money she has brought to the library something no other district school library has: a collection of items rented from the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles. It now costs $800 a year.

The collection contains ancient Egyptian artifacts like an oval cartouche box, stuffed animals, insects, ocean specimens, and items from early America.

``They love the sloth. They are from the rain forest, and they will never see them in Palmdale. They love the sabertooth cat skull. It's a model of a real one they found in the La Brea Tar Pits,'' said Wells, showing off the collection to a visitor, a pair of black reading glasses propped on her head.

Michele DeLeon, a special education assistant who was showing a student around the library, piped in, ``You are talking to the best librarian in Palmdale. The students hold her on a pedestal. They really look up to her. They have true respect for you,'' DeLeon told Wells.

Wells demurred, responding, ``We have mutual respect for one another.''

Wells first worked as a reading program instructional assistant at several schools. She then applied to work in a librarian's post.

``It was just something about it that interested me. There was something about being in a room full of books,'' Wells said. ``There was something comforting about being in this room. Once I started, it was just like, This is me. This is something I know I will just love. And I do. It became a part of me.''

After getting the Ocotillo job, Wells went to California State University, Los Angeles, and spent two years obtaining a library technician certificate.

``What really makes me smile is when a kid comes back and says, 'I loved that book you recommended. You were so right, Mrs. Wells,' or 'I got a 100 on the test because I read that book,''' Wells said. ``When they come back and say how much they love the library and appreciate it, when parents say, 'My kids love to come to the library,' when I hear that, my heart swells.''

As the librarian with the most seniority, Wells is always asked if she wants to transfer to new schools with libraries that are twice as big.

Wells says she will stay put at Ocotillo.

``I'm blessed to work at a school that has a community of people that works really well together, and we all have one goal, and that is the education of our students,'' Wells said.

Wells, a graduate of Antelope Valley High School, lives in Palmdale and is married to a retired Los Angeles firefighter. The couple has two grown daughters and two grandchildren.

Karen Maeshiro, [phone]

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Co-workers and parents have lobbied to help keep Mary Wells, the librarian at Ocotillo School, on campus and in her job.

(2) Mary Wells checks out students' books in the library that has been named in her honor at Ocotillo School.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer