GAINESVILLE — Sugar Hill Elementary School’s "Queen of the Library" has a new title: Georgia School Library Media Specialist of the Year.

Linda Martin earned her Sugar Hill moniker by sporting a collection of tiaras.

But the recent honor, bestowed by the Georgia Association for Instructional Technology and Georgia Library Media Association, recognizes her work between and beyond the bookshelves.

"It was very much a surprise," said Martin in an interview last week, recalling the October conference where she won the award. "I think my mouth fell open."

For her efforts, she won a plaque and a $200 honorarium.

But for Martin, the real rewards come each day working at Sugar Hill, which is at 3259 Athens Highway in East Hall.

"My whole philosophy of being here ... is kids don’t necessarily get vacations, they don’t travel ... they can’t visualize life outside, necessarily," she said. "I think our job is to help them with that vision.

"If they trust me, I can take them anywhere in their imagination."

Martin, 49, got her start in the library at age 14 as a volunteer.

Her father, who worked on office equipment for a living, was fixing a copier machine in the director’s office of a public library.

He made a comment to the effect that his daughter ought to work in a library because she reads so much. The director suggested that could happen.

"At 16, they started paying me," said Martin, who was born in Nashville, Tenn., and grew up in Charlotte, N.C. "I paid my way through college (at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte) by working at the library."

Martin went on to earn her master’s degree in library science at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

She began her library career as an assistant director of a regional library and then to direct a community college library in El Dorado, Ark.

Martin later moved to the Atlanta area, closer to family, and began working for the Atlanta-Fulton County Library System.

She started as an entry-level children’s librarian and began an annual storytelling festival while there.

Martin moved up in library management and then decided "I wanted to get back to the kids — that was where my heart lay."

She and her husband, Bruce Claar, had moved to Gainesville. She met a fifth-grade teacher from Martin Elementary School who mentioned a library opening at her school.

Martin went to the South Hall school for part of a school year, then went on to Sugar Hill, where she is in her sixth year.

In her application for media specialist of the year, she noted several work efforts, including organizing a storytelling group for teachers and media specialists in Hall County who want to integrate storytelling into their lessons.

She also has worked with teachers on a unit on Hawaii encompassing music, dance, art, science, math, social studies, folklore research and storytelling.

"I have the best job in the school," Martin said.

She has also started doctoral work at the University of Georgia.

Martin said she would like eventually to teach in a library school or college of education.

"New teachers come out and they don’t know everything that the librarian can do for them, in collaborating, helping to find lessons ... (the media specialist) can make their life easier," she said.