American Libraries

June Pinnell-Stephens: Judith is a force of nature.

John W. Berry: A true crusader for libraries, for the First Amendment.

Candace Morgan: A person like none I have ever known before.

C-SPAN Interviewer: How did you get interested in this in the first place?

Judith Krug: Oh, actually, I just sort of fell into it. I was working somewhere else and the job became available. I was called and I was asked if I wanted to interview for it, and I did. I started out in the Research Office but I had been in the Office for International Freedom since it was begun, which was in 1967. So I've been there a long time.

Judith Platt: When I first came to the Association of American Publishers, which was in 1979, Judith was already legendary in the work that she had been doing in defense of intellectual freedom and the First Amendment.

Candace Morgan: Gordon Conable introduced me to her in the early 1990's and I decided right away, based on her charisma and enthusiasm and passion, that it was time for me to shift over and have broader involvement in intellectual freedom. And she invited me to be an intern on the committee. And that was a time of the Kramer case in New Jersey. And from then on, I have been one of her faithful disciple.

Interviewer: What kind of interactions did you have with her when you were on the Executive Board?

Lucille C. Thomas: Well, we made it a point to always to have lunch or breakfast or some meal together during those years and we would compare notes. And some of those notes are interesting that I'm not going to share with you now.

Judith Platt: I was always explaining that I wasn't the Judith. I was just this Judith. And I always said that I did for the publishers what Judith was doing for the library community, but not as well.

Candace Morgan: Uniquely, she has taken charge of, developed, and continues to nurture the idea of the legitimacy of the American Library Association—a private organization—developing, implementing, advocating for policies and all kinds of libraries that protect First Amendment rights and Fourth Amendment rights in libraries. ALA could not possibly have the kind of role it does today without all that she does.

June Pinnell-Stephens: Once I became one of her minions, my life changed, becoming meaningful at last. And I never looked back.

John W. Berry: I think that Judith has clearly been, as the founding director of both of the Intellectual Freedom Office and the Freedom to Read Foundation, she has been our beacon, if you will, for intellectual freedom across all these years—40 of them—and there's really no one who's probably more respected on the issues that have affected us across the years in terms of First Amendment rights of the American public. She's been on the national stage right from the get go.

Judith Krug: I don't think censorship has ever been the solution to any problem, be it societal, or be it the kind of information and ideas which you have access to.

JK: Our basic position is that libraries have to fulfill the information needs of the all the people.

JK: Banned Books Week is the celebration that is run by the librarians, the booksellers, journalists, and authors every year to say to the American public, "We have wonderful freedoms that are guaranteed to us in the Constitution and Bill of Rights.” And two of the most important are freedom of speech and freedom of the press. But they are very fragile, and if you don't use them, you really stand a chance that somebody's going to take them away from us.

Caia Hoskins: And what the ALA says is that parents really should get to the back of the bus, they should keep their mouths shut, that they don't have a right to participate in a dialogue about what is age-appropriate reading for younger children.

Judith Krug: That, of course, is a silly statement because that is entirely untrue.

C-SPAN Interviewer: How does 1997 look to you, compared to the 31 years you've been involved in this kind of stuff?

Judith Krug: The Internet is becoming a bigger and bigger issue. We are at the beginning in the most important revolution, in terms of communication, that we've experienced since the invention of the printing press. And being there right at the beginning is so exciting.

JK: Still blocked are materials and information about AIDS, women's rights, animal rights, Native American sites, the American Association of University Women; indeed, all groups that have “association” in their titles.

JK: It's amazing what people will complain about.

JK: Everyone has to remember that libraries serve the information needs of everyone in the community that they serve, not only the most popular people, not only the most vocal, not only the loudest, and not even only the majority. We have to serve the information needs of everybody. And that includes people on the fringes, and they can be economic fringes, they can be social fringes, political fringes. We serve the needs of those people that we wouldn't take home for dinner.

Judith Platt: I cannot think of anyone who I hold in greater affection and for whom I have greater respect.

June Pinnell-Stephens: There's no other individual I can think of who has had such an impact on librarians, libraries, and the people they serve.

John W. Berry: True crusader for libraries, for the First Amendment. Tireless, I would say, in her dedication.

Lucille C. Thomas: We are better as a profession because she's a member of the profession.

Candace Morgan: Often times people—and I've been in this situation—have been caught in a situation in a library where I'm not very happy about the way things are going and she always says, "Well think about it. What's the goal? What has to happen? What if you left? Will anybody be there to defend what needs to be defended? Of course, you have to decide what is best for you, also. But if you decide to stay, then just move yourself so slowly that people don't even recognize that what you're doing is helping to right things it terms of intellectual freedom in that library.” And I've given that message to students, to people I have been training for, and it resounds tremendously. They all take a deep breath like, "I don't have to be perfect right away. I can work on this and I can help my institution.”

Judith Krug: It's all about choice. When it comes right down to it, it's all about choice.