Judith Krug

Back Story
Judith Krug was born in the year 1940. Her birth name is Judith Fingeret. Her first job was a
reference librarian at Chicago's John Crerar library. She was 22 then. She was 23 when she got the job
of a cataloguer at Northwestern University's dental school library. She worked there for 2 years. She
moved on from that to become a research analyst at the ALA. After 2 years she was promoted to the
Office for Intellectual freedom or the OIF. She was in the society of Phi Beta Kappa. She became
senator and then vice president of this group(Morales).
Krug Fighting Censorship
Krug then snatched up the opportunity to have responsibilities of the executive director a the
Freedom to read Foundation. This happened just 2 short years after she got the job. This fact is very
impressive. With this position, she raised more money to help with First Amendment cases (Martin).
She did not like that the government could control censorship in the libraries. She strongly believed
that people should have the right to interpret and look up other people's ideas without the government
getting in the way. She full force believed in backing up the first amendment right of anyone who could
read or write(Morales).She was supporter of this since the beginning of the 1960s (Martin). She was
especially fond of helping the youth. She mentored many librarians in the battle against risky materials.
She involved in MANY court cases for the First Amendment(Morales).
Founding Banned Book Week
She is the founder of the ALA's banned book week. This is where you celebrate the freedom to
read without limitations and to tell the world what you think about what you read(Morales). She
stopped the banning of the following: Catcher in the Rye, Huckleberry Finn, Little Black Sambo,
Mein Kampf, and sex manuals (Martin). This is really awesome because some of these books like
Catcher in the Rye are commonly read in schools. Krug claimed that a conservative group The Moral
Majority were the ones who did not like these books in the library. They of course denied these
accusations..Krug believed that this was a pure view of the First Ammendment but people against he
views thought it was a democratic will(Martin).
Censorship and the Internet
Krug also fought against censorship on the internet an issue that was popular in the libraries
then. People who did not have computers at home would go to the library for the computer and internet
access. The question involved not just a limited number of books for a particular librarys shelves, but
efforts to keep theoretically unlimited amounts of indecent material from children by means of
technological filters(Martin). This what led her to be the organizer in 1997 of the civil liberties groups.
So the Supreme Court ruled that the Communications Decency act of 1996 was basically too strict.
Krug changed a law. That is insanely impressive. The most recent law she tried to change was the USA
Patriot Act. This act permits federal investigators to investigate in the library records to see who has
looked at what. She did not win though and federal investigators can still do this (Martin).
Krug's view on Librarians
We do this by making sure libraries have information and ideas across the spectrum of social
and political thought, so people can choose what they want to read or view or listen to. Some users find
materials in their local library collection to be untrue, offensive, harmful or even dangerous. But
libraries serve the information needs of all of the people in the community not just the loudest, not
just the most powerful, not even just the majority. Libraries serve everyone (Samuels). Krug is
basically saying just because someone is very vocal about not liking specific books in a library, does not
mean Librarians have to give in to them. It is life lesson that there is going to be people hating your
actions no matter what you do. You just have to keep living.

Awards Received (Morales)

Joseph P. Lippincott Award
 Irita Van Doren Award
Harry Kalven Freedom of Expression award
William J. Brennan Jr. Award ( since 1993, 5th person to get this award)
Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression
She got her Doctorate, Doctor of Humane Letters from University of Illinois
Family Members to live on her legacy as of 2009 (Morales)
Husband: Herbert Krug
Son: Steven and his wife Denise Krug
Daughter: Michelle and her husband David Litchman
Five grandchild: Jessica, Sydney, Hannah, Rachel, and Jason
Brothers: Jay and Dr. Arnold Fingeret
Sister: Shirley Katzman
Krug's Inspiration
She acknowledges her parents for being her inspiration to fight against censorship. When she
was 12, She was reading a sex-ed book under the covers. Her mom came in and asked what she was
reading. Krug bashfully told her. Her mom said: For Gods sake, turn on your bedroom light so you
dont hurt your eyes(Martin). Her mom apparently said the right thing that day.
Death
Samuels says: Defending the freedom to read from damaging assaults by censors in and out of
government was her lifes work. She died on Saturday April 11th 2009. At the age of 69. Her son
Steven reported that it was stomach cancer (Martin).

Works Cited

Martin, Douglas. "Judith Krug, Who Fought Ban on Books, Dies at 69."The New York Times. The New York
Times, 14 Apr. 2009. Web. 09 Oct. 2014.
Morales, Macey. "Judith Krug, Librarian, Tireless Advocate for First Amendment Rights, Dies." American
Library Association. American Library Association, 13 Apr. 2009. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.
Samuels, Dorothy. "Judith Krug."The New York Times. The New York Times, 14 Apr. 2009. Web. 09 Oct.
2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD6kfKAsRWQ