Biographies
Julia Blixrud is the Assistant Director, Public Programs, for SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition). In this part-time role, Blixrud represents SPARC at conferences, association meetings, university programs and a number of other forums, speaking out about SPARC initiatives and scholarly communication. She is working to develop a grass-roots educational program aimed at scientists, librarians, and society publishers and provides materials and presentations for SPARC members to use in their own campus communities.
In addition to her SPARC duties, Ms. Blixrud is also the Director of Information Services for the Association of Research Libraries. She has planning responsibility for the Association's publications, communications, and data-gathering activities; works with the Statistics and Measurement Program specifically on the development of ARL's new measures initiative; assists other ARL programs with planning, information outreach, or special projects; monitors developments in intellectual property as a member of the staff copyright team; and handles the association's national and international standards activities.
Ms. Blixrud previously was Director of Training and Education at the CAPCON Library Network, where she had primary responsibility for the coordination and expansion of the network's training and educational programs. Prior to that, Ms. Blixrud was Program Officer at the Council on Library Resources (CLR), a private operating foundation. For five years she headed the National Serials Data Program at the Library of Congress, the US center for assignment of the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN). Other former positions include Project Manager for the ARL-directed CONSER Abstracting and Indexing Project and OCLC Coordinator for MINITEX, a library resource-sharing network in Minnesota.
An active member of several library and information associations, Ms. Blixrud has held offices in the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services, the Serials Industry Systems Advisory Committee, and the American Society for Information Science. She has chaired the Copyright Committee of the Association of College and Research Libraries and subcommittees of the National Information Standards Organization. Ms. Blixrud speaks and writes on such topics as scholarly communication, library statistics, information standards, serials, and cooperative projects. Her current interests are intellectual property rights management and standards for identifying digital objects and their component parts.
Ms. Blixrud has a BA in Library Science and Scandinavian Studies from Augsburg College (Minneapolis) and an MA in Library Science from the University of Minnesota.
Fred Friend was born in war-time U.K., grew up by the sea in Dover, read most of the books in his local public library, and with the help of supportive parents went off to study history at Kings College London. He had the good fortune to enter academic libraries at a time of growth. His first post was in Manchester University Library, where his future wife was also working. Fred moved from university to university in the UK and obtained his first library director post at the University of Essex. This was followed by a move to University College London, where he was library director for 15 years before moving into his present post, exploring new developments in information services. Fred is involved in national and international initiatives through the work of organizations such as JISC and SCONUL in the UK and international groups such as ICOLC. He is a proud father and grand-father.
Bernt Hugenholtz is Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Institute for Information Law of the University of Amsterdam. In 1989 he received his doctorate cum laude from the University of Amsterdam, where he defended his thesis on copyright protection of works of information. He has written numerous books, studies and articles on topics involving copyright and information technology, notably on the protection of computer software and databases, and copyright problems relating to the emerging digital networked environment. At the University of Amsterdam he teaches courses in Copyright Law, Industrial Property Law and Media and Information Law. He was a member of the Amsterdam Bar and partner of Stibbe Simont Monahan Duhot from 1990 to 1998.
Prof. Hugenholtz is Chairman of the Intellectual Property Task Force of the Legal Advisory Board of the European Commission, and Editor-in-chief of the Information Law Series, published by Kluwer Law International. He has been on several international missions representing the World Intellectual Property Organization, e.g. in China and Indonesia.
Wilma studied history of law and history of art at Utrecht University. After her studies she worked as a policy maker for the workers and student council of the Dutch Open University. In 1994, she switched to the legal department of the Dutch Open University, of which she has become head in August 2000.
Since 1996 copyright issues are a very important part of her activities, especially in connection with an electronic learning environment. Wilma is adviser for SURF/IWI about these issues. For SURF/IWI she also conducted a survey on universities and copyright and presented a policy for the Dutch universities about this.
Furthermore, Wilma advises the legal committee of FOBID, the Dutch umbrella organisation of libraries, information- and documentation centres. In this capacity she represents the Netherlands in the Copyright Expert Group of EBLIDA.
Dr. Sijbolt J. Noorda (born 1945) is President of the Universiteit van Amsterdam. He has been on the Board since 1991 with Finance, Information & Communication Technology, Contract Development and Student Affairs as his main responsibilities. He is a graduate of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Union Theological Seminary/Columbia University New York, and Universiteit Utrecht. Before becoming a university administrator in 1984, he taught biblical interpretation and hermeneutics. Dr. Noorda serves on various boards and committees in the domain of information technology and management, the arts, medical care, and bible translation and publishing.
Rodney Petersen is the Director of Policy and Planning in the Office of Information Technology at the University of Maryland. He is also the director and founder of Project NEThics - a group whose mission is to ensure responsible use of information technology through user education and enforcement of acceptable use guidelines. He received his law degree from Wake Forest University and is completing a Ph.D. in higher education policy, planning, and administration. His current research focuses on policies and practices concerning copyright ownership at research Universities. Rodney is a frequent speaker, writer, and consultant on issues of Internet law, policy, and ethics.
John C. Vaughn was appointed Executive Vice President of the Association of American Universities (AAU) in October 1996. As Executive Vice President, he serves as deputy to the president and chief of staff. He also supervises the association's policy and analysis work, and is directly responsible for the areas of intellectual property, information technology, research libraries and scholarly communication, and international education. He works with member presidents and chancellors, chief academic officers, and other university administrators to develop national and institutional policies that advance the interests and responsibilities of the member universities in these areas. In promoting national policies, he works closely with government relations representatives to identify and promote an appropriate and effective federal role in the support of academic programs and activities.
Dr. Vaughn staffs a number of AAU Committees, including the Committees on Digital Networks and Intellectual Property, Tenure, and Membership. He also serves as an ex officio member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Graduate Schools (AGS) in the Association of American Universities, an affiliated organization comprising the graduate deans of AAU universities.
Dr. Vaughn received his B.A. in Psychology from Eastern Washington State College in 1968. In 1977, he received a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Minnesota. He was awarded an NIH Postdoctoral Traineeship and served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Duke University from 1977-1979.
Dr. Vaughn has served in several of positions of increasing responsibility since joining the association in 1980. The AAU consists of sixty U.S. and two Canadian universities with strong programs of research and graduate and professional education.
Ralph Weedon is the Internet Copyright Officer for the University of Strathclyde and is based in the Centre for Educational Systems. He has close links with the Law School there. Following a successful bid to JISC earlier this year he is Project Manager for a pilot Legal Information Service for the Higher and Further Education sectors in the UK. The service is based at Strathclyde with two other partners, the UK Centre for Legal Education at the University of Warwick and MacRoberts, Solicitors.
He has recently completed work on another JISC funded project on 'Policy Approaches to Copyright in HEIs' investigating issues such as ownership and control of material produced by academic staff, particularly that put up on the web. This included reference to the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, relevant EU, international legislation and treaties.
In his role as Internet Copyright Officer, Ralph writes guidelines on electronic copyright, conducts multi-media copyright clearance and drafts copyright licences for institutions, authors and users. Prior to joining Strathclyde Ralph was the co-ordinator for the TLTP History project at the University of Glasgow, which included responsibility for copyright. For some 8 years at the University of Leicester he was responsible for an Information Technology course aimed at graduates in the Humanities and Social Sciences. For 5 years after his first degree he was computer officer for a professional organisation in London. He holds a Masters degree in English Local History and a BA (Hon's.) in History and Geography.
Leanne Wiseman is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at Queensland University of Technology, in Brisbane. Previously, she practised as a solicitor in private practice and with the Government. Leanne's primary research interests lie in the areas of intellectual property law and contract law. Her publications include co-authored monographs on Contract Law and Corporations Law and a Federal Government commissioned report on Copyright in Universities (1999). She is a member of the Australian Key Centre for Cultural and Media Policy, and executive member of the Intellectual Property Society of Australia and New Zealand and Law Council of Australia.
Last update: 11 juli 2001