Office for Intellectual Freedom to host memorial for Judith F. Krug at ALA Annual Conference

Contact: Nanette Perez,


Program Officer


American Library Association (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF)


(312) 280-4225


nperez@ala.org

NEWS


For Immediate Release,


June 30, 2009

The library world lost a great leader in April with the death of Judith Fingeret Krug, the long-time director of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) and executive director of the Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF).

The staff of the Office for Intellectual Freedom will host a special memorial service where family, friends, and colleagues can come together to honor her memory and her immense contributions to librarianship and First Amendment freedoms. The event will take place from 6-7 p.m. on Friday, July 10th at the Hyatt Grand Regency Hotel, 155 E. Wacker Drive, Grand Ballroom A. All are invited to attend.

Judith F. Krug began her library career as a reference librarian at Chicago’s John Crerar Library in 1962. Later, she was hired as a cataloguer at Northwestern University’s dental school library, working there from 1963-65. She joined the ALA as a research analyst from 1965-67 and assumed the post of OIF director in 1967, also taking over the duties of executive director of the Freedom to Read Foundation.

Krug was the recipient of many awards, including the Joseph P. Lippincott Award, the Irita Van Doren Award, and the Harry Kalven Freedom of Expression Award Krug also received an honorary doctorate, Doctor of Humane Letters, from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2005. In addition, she served as a senator and vice president of the Phi Beta Kappa society.

Earlier this year, she received the William J. Brennan Jr. Award, from the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, for her “remarkable commitment to the marriage of open books and open minds.” On July 12, 2009, the Freedom to Read Foundation will honor Krug by posthumously awarding her its Founder’s Award at FTRF's 40th Anniversary Gala.

Further information about the memorial service is available by calling or emailing Nanette Perez at
nperez@ala.org or (312) 280-4223.