Vancouver, British Columbia
May 15-17, 1996

Leading the Agile Organization

Luncheon Session:

Government Relations Update

Introduction

James G. Neal, Eisenhower Library Director
Johns Hopkins University

I would like to welcome everyone to the Government Relations Update Luncheon. Our goal at this luncheon is to provide an update on the status of fair use and copyright protection, particularly as it affects higher education. This information is particularly relevant today in the wake of the recent U.S. court decision on coursepacks and the status of license negotiations between Canadian universities and CANCOPY.

We have invited two very distinguished colleagues, Susan Kornfield and Graham Hill, to be our speakers this session.

Susan Kornfield is a partner in the law firm of Bodman, Longley, and Dahling and is head of their intellectual property practice group. She is also, importantly, the lead attorney in the Michigan Document Services coursepack case. She has recently accepted a position as adjunct professor of copyright law at the University of Michigan law school in Ann Arbor. Ms. Kornfield received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from the Indiana University School of Law, where she graduated with honors.

Our second speaker, Graham Hill, certainly needs no introduction to this group. Our colleague has been University Librarian at McMaster University since 1979. He served on the Board of Directors at the Canadian Association of Research Libraries for many years, and was its president from 1985 to 1987. He has also served on the ARL Board of Directors from 1983 to 1986.

He has been closely involved with Canadian copyright issues over the past decade and has been a member of the Canadian Government's consultative committee on the library use of copyrighted materials. Indeed, he is negotiating the first renewal of the Canadian universities' model blanket license with CANCOPY (the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency).

So we have two people who are clearly on the cutting edge of two very important issues, and I hope that you will join me in welcoming them to this luncheon.