Judy Krug
Judith Krug, the first (and for 40 years the only) director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, died on Saturday.
OIF, as we called it when I worked at the ALA, was just down the hall from the Booklist offices, and so I knew Ms. Krug a bit. But I didn't realize how important she was to the history of books in America until I'd written one myself. Krug invented Banned Books Week, helped countless thousands of librarians defend their collections against threats of censorship, and truly devoted her life to the freedom to read.
There's a great quote from Ms. Krug in the editorial in today's NYT: "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.”
Obits here and here as well.
posted by John Green @ Wednesday, April 15, 2009
11 Comments
11 Comments:
How appropriate? coincidental? that she passed away during National Library Week. Thank you for the post, she meant a lot to our society whether we knew it or not.
When did you decide you wanted to work at ALA and how did you go about getting the job?
She sounds like an amazing woman. Thank you for posting this.
Thanks for posting this, John. I didn't know her name until the announcement came through a listserv this morning. She sounds like an absolutely amazing woman. Librarianship would be a very different profession without her influence.
I just went and did some research on her, and she seems like an unbelievable woman. I wish I had known more about her sooner.
She sounds amazing, I wish I had gotten the chance to meet her.
Oh and maybe its because I just reread Looking for Alaska, but I find myself wondering what her last words were.
We are doing a persuasive speech in speech and your book Looking For Alaska inspired me to do censorship.
Thank you for posting this, John. Those of us who love books that are often challenged owe her so much, I wish I had known about her sooner so I could have written letters.
This is a little off topic, John, but because you collect stories about things that are awesome, have you heard of Susan Boyle? Look her up on youtube. It's an amazing story.
So, I have some questions for you, because I know you're still BEDAing.
If you could only read one author for the rest of your life, who would it be, and who would you miss reading most?
The world lost a wonderful woman in Judith Krug, but her legacy will endure with hard work and dedication from people who believe that intellectual freedom is worth fighting for. I hope there are enough of them.
In regards to BEDA, and assuming you are still taking questions, today (16 April) marks two years since the killings at Virginia Tech. Any comments?
Thank you so much for the link to that editorial. Each week for my AP Language & Composition class we have to analyze an editorial. I was struggling to find something worthwhile and you showed it to me. She seems to have been an amazing woman.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home