Judith Krug

Judith Fingeret Krug (March 15, 1940 – April 11, 2009) was an American librarian, supporter of freedom of speech, and prominent critic against censorship. She was appointed as the Director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom in 1967 and Executive Director of the Freedom to Read Foundation in 1969. She co-founded Banned Books Week in 1982.

Sourced

• The First Amendment is national in scope and, as the Supreme Court said in Tinker, it does not stop at the schoolhouse door. Not all children are the same. Is a 17-year-old on the eve of his 18th birthday the same as a five-year-old? It is not the responsibility of librarians, or online content providers for that matter, to determine what is appropriate. We are at the very beginning of how we will handle this new medium.
  • "Library Interests Debate Decency Act" Newsbytes News Network (February 21, 1996)

• You should have access to ideas and information regardless of your age. If anyone is going to limit or guide a young person, it should be the parent or guardian — and only the parent or guardian.
  • "A Library That Would Rather Block Than Offend" by Pamela Mendels, The New York Times (January 18, 1997)

• Many libraries are digging in their heels and saying, "We are not going to add filtering mechanisms."
  • "A Library That Would Rather Block Than Offend" by Pamela Mendels, The New York Times (January 18, 1997)

• We want to provide as much information as we can, and say to our users: "It is all here. You make the choice."
  • "A Library That Would Rather Block Than Offend" by Pamela Mendels, The New York Times (January 18, 1997)

• I have a real problem when people say, "Well I walked by and you should have seen what was on the computer screen." Well, don't look, sweetie. It's none of your business. Avert your eyes.
  • "A Library That Would Rather Block Than Offend," by Pamela Mendels, The New York Times (January 18, 1997)

• We know that there are children out there whose parents do not take the kind of interest in their upbringing and in their existence that we would wish, but I don't think censorship is ever the solution to any problem, be it societal or be it the kind of information or ideas that you have access to.
  • "Easy Access?" by Spencer Michels, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (August 7, 1997)

• Material that might be illegal is such a minuscule part of what is available that we have to remember — and I mean not only librarians but everybody has to remember not to let it overshadow the incredible wealth of information that is available in this medium.
  • "Easy Access?" by Spencer Michels, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (August 7, 1997)

• For those of us in this battle, we clearly understand one thing — that when left up to "local" decision-making, it's still the ALA policy/philosophy of "no filters" that often triumphs. Local folks are not having their concerns taken seriously. I hear this repeatedly from individuals who contact us asking what they can do because they're up against an ALA wall. Does 'W' understand this? His wife is a librarian.
  • "Bush On Porn In Libraries" by Brian Krebs, Newsbytes PM (February 28, 2000)

• We know for a fact that the library is the main access point to the Internet outside of the home and workplace. Particularly for young people, information about AIDS, sexuality, suicide could mean the difference between life and death. This law keeps us from giving people access to the information they need.
  • "ACLU, ALA File Law Suit Against Child Internet Protection Act - American Civil Liberties Union, American Library Association Declare Law Unconstitutional - Brief Article" Electronic Education Report (March 28, 2001)

• I would have felt better if she had followed the Florida law. I suspect most people faced with the same situation would have done what she did.
  • Referring to Kathleen Hensman, a Delray Beach, Florida public librarian informing police about 9/11 suspects having used computers in the library where she works
  • "A Nation Challenged: Questions of Confidentiality; Competing Principles Leave Some Professionals Debating Responsibility to Government" by David E. Rosenbaum, The New York Times (November 23, 2001)

• Blocking material leads to censorship. That goes for pornography and bestiality, too. If you don't like it, don't look at it... Every time I hear someone say, I want to protect the children, I want to pull my hair out.
  • "Preventing Kids From Seeing Illegal Smut Is Not Unconstitutional; It's Common Sense" by Janet M. LaRue, Senior Director of Legal Studies at the Family Research Council, National Policy Center: Idea House (2001)

• I have always found it a little strange that the majority of schools are utilizing filters. It seems to me that this is the environment where filters would not be used because the students are so carefully monitored, the activities in which they engage all go toward the same goals of education, and this is the very place where young people should be learning about information and its uses, in other words, where they should be learning information literacy.

  A recent National Research Center report, commissioned by Congress, clearly stated that information and media literacy are the most important things we can teach our children in order to truly protect them. Instead of placing barriers around the swimming pool, we must teach children to swim. We must teach children to find and use accurate information.

  • "Children's Internet Protection Act" by Brian Krebs, The Washington Post (June 3, 2002 )

• A librarian is not a legal process. There is not librarian in the country — unless she or he is a lawyer — who is in the position to determine what he or she is looking at is indeed child pornography.
  • "Libraries vs. Police in a Suit Sparked by Porn; Kent Case Centers on People's Rights and Protections" by Jeffrey M. Barker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer (August 13, 2002)

• I have heard some horror stories.
  • Referring to an incident in which an adult asked a librarian for a filter to be turned off and was told that the request had to go to a committee that would not meet for another two weeks
  • "Goodbye, Orlando?" by John Berry et al., Library Journal (August 15, 2004)

• It's a public library. If you don't like the book, magazine, CD-ROM or film, put it down and pick up something else. Libraries provide choice. Our responsibility is to have in our collection a broad range of ideas and information.
  • "Oak Lawn Library Vows to Keep Playboy on Shelf" by Jo Napolitano, Chicago Tribune (June 23, 2005)

• I get very concerned when we start hearing people who want to convert this country into a safe place for children. I am adult. I want available what I need to see.
  • "Oak Lawn Library Vows to Keep Playboy on Shelf" by Jo Napolitano, Chicago Tribune, (June 23, 2005)

• Toni Morrison is challenged regularly because she is a black author who writes about the real world. She speaks with so much knowledge about black issues she can't be accused of creating these (issues). People find these issues threatening.
  • Referring to people seeking to prevent children in public schools from reading books allegedly containing sexually inappropriate material.
  • "Group Targets Black Authors' Books; Toni Morrison's Novel Deemed 'Smut' by Parent; Acclaimed Memoir 'Black Boy' Also is Under Fire" by Valerie Olander, The Detroit News (January 24, 2007)

External links

• Judith F. Krug on ALA.org