C&RL News May 2019 298

Ca r r i e  R u s s e l l l  i s  s e n i o r  p ro gr a m  d i re c to r  a n d 
c o p y r i g h t  s p e c i a l i s t ,  A L A  P u b l i c  P o l i c y  a n d 
Advocac y Unit, at ALA’s Washington Office, email: 
crussell@alawash.org

W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n eCarrie Russell

Librarian of Congress appoints new 
Register of Copyrights
On March 27, Librarian of Congress Carla 
Hayden appointed Karyn Temple the new 
Register of Copyrights. “Karyn has done 
a superb job as acting register for the last 
two-and-a-half years, leveraging her skills as 
both a copyright lawyer and accomplished 
manager to provide excellent leadership for 
the Copyright Office,” said Hayden. “Of the 
13 Registers of Copyright in U.S. history, 
Temple will be the first person of color to 
hold this position.”

Both rights holders and librarians are 
pleased with the selection. The Library 
Copyright Alliance (LCA) praised Temple’s 
collaboration with the Library of Congress on 
modernization efforts for the U.S. Copyright 
Office. “Register Temple has provided a vi-
sion for the Office as a digitally sophisticated 
agency that meets the needs of authors, 
creators, and the publishing and entertain-
ment industries, as well as the needs of the 
public to find and locate rights holders and 
determine the copyright status of works.” 

Temple, who had been acting register 
since the departure of former Register Maria 
Pallante in October 2016, announced that 
information technology (IT) modernization 
would be her number one focus. A March 
2015 Government Accountability Office 
(GAO) report identified “significant weak-
nesses across several areas” of the Library’s 
information infrastructure, including the 
Copyright Office’s registration and recorda-
tion systems. GAO reported that a lack of 
leadership and collaboration, mismanaged 
funds, and historical neglect of the importance 
of IT led to serious infrastructure problems. 

Though Temple’s career at the Copyright 
Office since 2011 would make her a natural 
successor to Pallante, some were concerned 
that Hayden would hire a register who fa-
vored library interests. Others were simply 
upset that Hayden had reassigned Pallante, 
who subsequently resigned. Temple’s ap-
pointment was on “pause” after legislation 
was introduced in 2017 to transfer the hiring 
authority over the register from the Librarian 
of Congress to the President. The Register of 
Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act 
of 2017 passed the House of Representatives 
in April 2017 but couldn’t get enough sup-
port to pass in the Senate. 

LCA welcomed Temple’s appointment, 
saying, “Under her leadership, the Office is 
transforming into a user-centered enterprise 
that will serve all stakeholders in the copy-
right ecosystem by streamlining processes, 
including the digitization of copyright reg-
istrations and renewal records that will be 
searchable, secure, authoritative, and easy 
to access.” 

Prior to her appointment as acting reg-
ister, Temple had served since 2013 as as-
sociate register of copyrights and director of 
policy and international affairs for the U.S. 
Copyright Office. In that role, she oversaw 
the office’s domestic and international policy 
analyses, legislative support, and interna-
tional negotiations.

Before joining the Copyright Office in 
2011, Temple served as senior counsel to 
the deputy attorney general of the United 
States, where she helped formulate Depart-
ment of Justice policy on legal issues and 
helped manage the Department of Justice’s 
Task Force on Intellectual Property. She also 
spent several years in the private sector as 
vice president, litigation and legal affairs 
for the Recording Industry Association of 
America and at the law firm Williams & Con-
nolly, LLP. 

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