New Jersey Library Association to Honor Cumberland County Jail Warden, Robert Balicki

Bridgeton, NJ, May 23, 2013-  Robert Balicki, Cumberland County Jail Warden, will receive the Library Champion Award for his unique and significant contribution to the book collection of the Cumberland County Library and to the educational and informational development of the inmates during the spring conference of the New Jersey Library Association.  Balicki will be recognized at the Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, June 4 at the Revel Casino in Atlantic City. Other awards that evening will be for Librarian of the Year, the President’s Award, Rising Star Awards, Intellectual Freedom Award, Distinguished Service Award and others.

The Library Champion award is given annually in recognition of an exceptional contribution to a New Jersey Library, group of Libraries, or to a New Jersey Library community.  Nominees may be a person, group, organization, business or corporation which has made a remarkable contribution during 2012.

Approximately 400 residents of the Cumberland County Jail in Bridgeton had over 1,500 new library books to read thanks to a cooperative program between the Cumberland County Library and the Cumberland County Jail. The funding of $25,000 for this shared program was made possible by the Cumberland County Jail. Warden Robert Balicki developed this program with County Library Director Jean Edwards. The funding from the jail provided books not only for the jail inmates, but also for regular patrons of the library who were looking for bestsellers and new books.