Judith Krug, 1940 – 2009 champion of intellectual freedom

jessamyn — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:17:04 +0000

We’re starting National Library Week on a bittersweet note with an obit in Library Journal for Judith Krug. Judith Krug was a huge personal inspiration for me since before I even started library school. She had been the head of the ALAs Office for Intellectual Freedom since before I was born. She was a no compromise defender of intellectual freedom, and a very politically minded and savvy woman who showed us all how it’s done. She had to put up with an incredible amount of nonsense and vitriol by people who did not agree with her positions and yet she kept fighting for the rights guaranteed by the Constitution includng the rights of children. Here are a few links to neat things by/about her that you might want to read and reflect on.

Intellectual Freedom 2002: Living the Chinese Curse lecture at the Library of Congress
John Berry on Judith Krug Library Journal Editorial
A little video on YouTube featuring Loriene Roy and Judith Krug during Banned Books Week
Judith Krug being interviewed in 1981 by Richard Heffner.
An old link from a CNN interview (have to scroll down) where she suggests that then-President Bush’s library card should be revoked.

Her energy, humor and tireless spirit will be sorely missed.

Supreme Court decision concerning “free exercise”

jessamyn — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:43:21 +0000

I think this is important. It’s a case, one of hundreds, that the US Supreme Court declined to review. “There is no free exercise right to be free from any reference in public elementary schools to the existence of families in which the parents are of different gender combinations … public schools are not obliged to shield individual students from ideas which potentially are religiously offensive, particularly when the school imposes no requirement that the student agree with or affirm those ideas,” the court said. Some more details from a previous OIF post and the School Law blog.

librarian.net » alaoif

Judith Krug, 1940 – 2009 champion of intellectual freedom

Supreme Court decision concerning “free exercise”