A Librarian’s Unabridged Gift : Memorial: The late Priscilla Flanagin’s hundreds of books are being distributed to Ventura schools.

When Priscilla Flanagin moved to Ventura in 1959, only one elementary school in town had a library.

But when Flanagin died in February at the age of 75, the librarian known for her hearty laugh had helped set up dozens of school libraries in Ventura and across the county.

“She thought that once you got a child to come into a library and select a book, you’d establish something in that child that would go on throughout his or her life,” said Oxnard resident Dorothy Graham, 76, a longtime school volunteer. “That was her goal.”

Flanagin did all she could to make sure that her goal would outlive her. A big book collector, Flanagin left a will requesting that the more than 1,500 titles in her private library be donated to Ventura schools.

For weeks, Graham and her husband, George, 79, have stored about 60 cartons crammed with titles including everything from “Alice in Wonderland” to “You and the Law” and “Contes Dramatiques.” The Grahams had to move their houseplants outside their Oxnard mobile home to make room for all the books on their porch.

On Wednesday, Gene Badstubner, a guidance counselor at Buena High School, dropped by to cart off the remaining titles. But he had brought the wrong car--a 1978 MGB roadster.

After two trips with a dolly, the white sports car would hold no more.

“Kids can do a lot of recreational reading with [these books],” said Badstubner, heaving the final carton onto the passenger seat. “Some of these books are undoubtedly outdated. But the literature and novels, they never get old.”

Flanagin moved to Ventura with her family from Japan, where her husband, an Army medical officer, had been stationed during the Korean War. She was a Massachusetts native trained as a librarian at Simmons College.

When Flanagin learned that the school across the street from her house--El Camino--had no library or professional librarian, she launched a campaign that would span nearly three decades.

In 1959, she started a newspaper drive in the neighborhood surrounding El Camino to raise money for a library. By selling the newsprint to the city dump and organizing other fund-raisers, Flanagin and the Parent Teacher Assn. netted enough cash that March to open a library with 300 books.

Once that job was done, Flanagin turned to other schools in the Ventura Unified School District, organizing libraries at Will Rogers, Loma Vista, Juanamaria, Oak View and many others.

Eventually, Flanagin made the rounds of PTAs across the county to help them set up libraries of their own. She was instrumental in founding libraries at elementary schools from Oxnard to Somis to Simi Valley.

All told, Flanagin’s colleagues estimate that she helped bring libraries to more than 30 schools.

“When a new school was built, Priscilla was right with them, organizing school libraries,” said Ventura resident Mildred Miller, 76, a former PTA member. “It was her love.”

Before Flanagin arrived on the scene, schools didn’t have professional librarians, just library clerks. Flanagin held countywide training workshops on how to run a library, including how to catalogue and repair books.

“I think she was probably the most important person in terms of making our libraries professional,” said Patrick Rooney, Ventura Unified’s superintendent from 1965 to 1986. “She supplied the information, the knowledge. She was the one who provided the staff development for the people who actually manned the libraries.”

So far, the Grahams have distributed books to more than half a dozen schools, including Lincoln, Sheridan Way and Ventura High. As board members of the Ventura Unified School District Educational Foundation, the Grahams and others have also established a $500 Priscilla Flanagin Library Book Fund to purchase new books for school libraries in the district.

But Graham said Flanagin will be remembered for at least one more thing.

“She always gave you a big hug, including all the principals and vice principals,” Graham said with a chuckle. “A lot of the men didn’t want to be hugged, but she went after them twice as hard. You always got a bearhug from Priscilla.”