Mercer Island Librarian Wins Visionary Award

Children’s Librarian Margaret Martin has won the Washington Library Association Children and Young Adult Services Visionary Award for 2011. Librarians from across the state were nominated for the honor. The Visionary Award “recognizes individuals who, through their practice and example, provide inspiration and leadership for others who serve children and young adults in libraries.”

A librarian for 19 years, 12 of them at the Mercer Island Library, Martin said the award came as a bit of a shock to her. “Jennifer Fleck (Young Adult Librarian) wrote a letter and got the whole staff together to nominate me and I knew nothing about it,” Martin said. “It was totally a surprise for me…I couldn’t believe it!”

In her letter to the Visionary Awards Committee, Fleck said that Martin has been a mentor to many fledgling librarians at the Mercer Island Library, in addition to creating story times and working with patrons to find books for their children. “When Margaret notices a need in library services, she seeks to fill it, working collaboratively and creating alliances wherever possible. Noting a gap in service for “tweens” at our branch, she helped develop a strategy to ensure that these patrons did not slip between the cracks of our departments. Margaret has many ties to the community and works with the , the local bookstore, the community center, public and private area schools, and the local theater. In 2001, Margaret traveled to India for the second time to once again help open a library for a community in need. She took leave-without-pay this past year in order to be one of two librarians creating, stocking, cataloging, and opening a library in rural China.

“I just really love doing story times and story telling,” Martin said. “There is so much richness in this job, which combines books and people and kids—to be able to help set up libraries throughout the world and work with teachers and schools has been a tremendous joy for me.”

Martin will be presented with the Children and Young Adult Services (CAYAS) Visionary Award at the annual Washington Library Association conference breakfast in Yakima, Wash., on Friday, April 8.