Libraries play an important role in protecting Americans' First Amendment right to free speech, and free access to information is the cornerstone of the democratic process. These were the twin messages delivered by Judith Krug, director of the American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom, in a May 23 lecture at the Library.
Judith Krug
The lecture in the Library's Coolidge Auditorium was the first in a new series titled "Luminary Lectures @ Your Library" sponsored by the Library's Public Service Collections Directorate.
"When I think about our world today and, particularly, what's happening in the intellectual freedom arena, I can't help but remember the old Chinese proverb, 'May you live in times that are interesting,'" said Krug. "In truth, the issues confronting librarians today really are interesting and affect everything we do. They range from confidentiality and privacy to advocacy and access to ideas, from diversity to development, to name only a few. These issues are a part of our landscape, and that landscape encompasses the oldest medium–books–and the newest–the Internet."
Krug, a long-time free speech activist and one of the founders of ALA's "Banned Books Week," spearheaded a legal action (American Library Assn. Inc. vs. the United States) that challenged the Children's Internet Protection Act. On May 31, a federal appeals court in Philadelphia struck down the law, which would have required public libraries to install Internet filters to prevent younger patrons from encountering potentially objectionable content online. Libraries not in compliance with this law would have been denied federal funding for computers and Internet access.
The ALA, the American Civil Liberties Union, and several public libraries joined forces and took the U.S. Department of Justice to court to block enactment of the legislation. If the government appeals, the Supreme Court would decide whether to hear the case.
Three judges on a special panel declared the Children's Internet Protection Act "invalid under the First Amendment" because it would have required libraries to use technology that blocks access to legitimate sites on the World Wide Web, while still giving access to some pornographic sites, reported The Washington Post.
Krug placed this particular case in the context of a long line of legal challenges that have emerged in response to the evolution of the Internet as an unprecedented medium of free speech. She described an earlier ruling on the Communications Decency Act, which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in 1997 because, according to Krug, the justices found that:
- Adults cannot be limited in their reading material to only that which is suitable for children;
- There are alternate means, such as filters, for parents to use at home, to protect their children; and
- The Internet is more like the print medium than like the broadcast medium and deserves the same, if not more, First Amendment protection enjoyed by print.
"As librarians, our job is to bring people and information together," Krug observed. "We do this by making sure libraries provide 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. Since libraries provide information to all of the people in their community, we find, from time to time, that not all of our users agree with all of the material we acquire. 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."
Krug concluded her presentation with an aptly chosen quotation from James Madison, who contemplated the importance of "popular information"; it is engraved on the wall at the entrance of the Library's Madison Building.
"A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."
