Gloucester City: Library Director Elizabeth Egan Receives Prestigious Award

  Gloucester City Library Director Elizabeth Egan has been awarded the New Jersey Library Association President\’s Award for 2008. The award recognizes outstanding public service and work for libraries in New Jersey.

The New Jersey Library Association (NJLA) was established in 1890 and is the oldest and largest library organization in the state. It advocates for the advancement of library services for state residents.

Also, it provides continuing education and networking opportunities for librarians, supports the principles of intellectual freedom, and promotes access to library materials for all.

Egan received the award during the group\’s 2008 annual meeting in April.

Presenting the honor, NJLA President Michele Reutty said that in Egan\’s capacity as chair of the NJLA Intellectual Freedom Subcommittee, she has been a font of information for the library community, and a staunch supporter of the First Amendment.

\”She is a cool head in tough situations. She is a voice of reason in a world gone crazy where intellectual freedoms are being challenged every day. For this and all she continues to do to safeguard… the public\’s rights, I present the 2008 President\’s Award, with grateful thanks,\” Reutty said.

Egan is a graduate of Queen\’s University, Canada. She holds a Master\’s Degree in Library and Information Sciences from Indiana University, Bloomington, and has been Director of Gloucester City Library since 1989.

She has recently finished a two-term, six-year stint on the Board of Directors of the South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative (SJR-LC), a multi-type library membership organization including more than 600 academic, institutional, public, school, and special libraries.

Its mission is to promote and provide for improved access to information for the people of South Jersey by envisioning, planning, supporting and creating opportunities for cooperative services for and among member libraries.

Egan is past chair and current member of the NJLA Public Policy Committee that functions to initiate, monitor and recommend legislation concerning libraries and intellectual freedom, both in the state and in the nation.