Naz Pantaloni, Head, Copyright Program, IU Libraries
Title and Role: Naz is the Head of the Copyright Program for the Indiana University Libraries. The Copyright Program exists to help both IU affiliates and researchers navigate the often murky waters of copyright law.
Educational background: Naz has a broad and varied educational background. While he majored in psychology and biology as an undergraduate, he also took many courses in musicology, art history, literature, and language studies. At first, Naz was considering a career as a clinical psychologist but ended up going to law school at Temple University. Following law school, Naz went on to earn a master’s degree in information science from Drexel University. While working as a law librarian and library administrator in Philadelphia, he completed his Ph.D. in philosophy at Villanova University.
Work Experience: Before coming to Indiana University, Naz worked as a law librarian and library administrator at Temple, Princeton, Villanova, Rutgers, and Cornell Universities, as well as the University of Pennsylvania. His first position with Indiana University was as Assistant Director for Copyright and Administration for the William and Gayle Cook Music Library in the Jacob’s School of Music.
Work with the IU Archives: Naz’s work with the University Archives involves addressing legal issues that arise their ongoing efforts to digitize archival resources and make them accessible online. This includes determining the copyright status of published and unpublished materials held by the University Archives, as well as the fair use of said materials for education or research purposes.
Oscar winners in “School of the Sky”, May 15,1948, Archives Image no. P0052037
Favorite item or collection in the IU Archives: Naz’s favorite items in the Archives are the recordings of the Indiana School of the Sky. These programs, produced by the IU Department of Radio and Television from 1947 until the early 1960’s, consisted of 15-minute episodes for elementary and high school students. The wide range of topics covered by these programs included science, music, civics, current events, and life skills for young adults, such as dating and applying for jobs.
Favorite experience working with the IU Archives: Naz’s favorite experience with the IU Archives involved researching the documentation for the Indiana School of the Sky. The University Archives houses many of the scripts for the programs, as well as contracts with writers, licenses for music used for soundtracks, and internal memos documenting the inception and development of the School of the Sky over more than a decade. He says that “Reading through those materials, kept in perfect order in the Archives, felt like travelling back in time and into the minds of the programs’ originators and the people who created them. It was utterly fascinating to see how people worked in the mid-20th century to provide educational programming to schools in Indiana and the Midwest using the then prevalent medium of radio.”
Current project that relates to working with the IU Archives: Currently, Naz is working on the Media Digitization and Preservation Initiative. As part of a university-wide effort, the goal of this initiative is the digitization and preservation of Indiana University’s rich collections of time-based media and to make them as accessible as possible.
Learned by working with the IU Archives: In response to this question, Naz says: “Archivists are amazing! Their work requires a broad range of skills and knowledge, from technology to historiography, and law. They are detectives, historians, curators, and interpreters of the past and present. At IU, they are the keepers of a significant institutional memory, the importance of which is only becoming more apparent in light of the university’s bicentennial.”
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