Kyle K. Courtney is a lawyer and librarian, serving as the Director of Copyright and Information Policy at Harvard University, working out of Harvard Library. His work frames the law as the foundation for advancing the mission of all libraries, archives, and cultural institutions to acquire, preserve, maintain, and share the world’s culture. He works closely with the Harvard community to establish a culture of shared understanding of copyright and related legal issues among Harvard staff, faculty, and students. His “Copyright First Responders” initiative is in its twelfth year and has spread beyond Harvard to reach libraries, archives, and cultural institutions in twelve states. He serves on boards and legal advisory committees for various law, library, and open access institutions including the American Law Institute’s Restatement of Copyright project, Buddhist Digital Resource Center, and EveryLibrary Institute. Most recently, he co-founded and is Board Chair of both Library Futures and eBooks Study Group, non-profits dedicated to empowering libraries to take control of their digital futures. 

Kyle is a published author and nationally recognized speaker on the topics of copyright, libraries, and the law. He holds a J.D. with distinction in Intellectual Property Law and an MSLIS. His writing has appeared in Politico, The Hill, Journal of the Copyright Society, Law Library Journal, and other publications. He co-authored the seminal “White Paper on Controlled Digital Lending of Library Books” and his latest forthcoming works are “Copyright & Censorship: Historical Dangers of Licensing Regimes in the Digital Age” by Cornell University Press and “Solving the eBook Conundrum: Libraries, Legislation, and Advocacy in the States” by the Association of College and Research Libraries publications.