Before taking on the position of Curator of the John M. Echols Collection on Southeast Asia, Green worked at Northern Illinois University Libraries in a similar position as Curator of the Donn V. Hart Southeast Asia Collection. Prior to his time at NIU, he worked at Arizona State University Libraries as the Southeast Asia Bibliographer while attending the University of Arizona's School of Information Resources and Library Science. Green's graduation in December 2003 added the MLS degree to a previous MA in Asian Studies from the University of California at Berkeley (1999) and a BA in History and Asian Studies from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah (1995).