Canadian Librarian Appointed to WIPO Accessible Book Consortium Board
The Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Victoria Owen to the Board of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Accessible Book Consortium for a three-year term. Ms. Owen, who is chief librarian at the University of Toronto Scarborough, was nominated by the International Federation of Library Associations, one of the founding partners of the Accessible Books Consortium.
Welcoming her appointment, CFLA Chair, Peter Bailey said:
“I am delighted to announce Victoria Owen’s appointment to the Board of the WIPO Accessible Book Consortium. This appointment reflects the Canadian library community’s commitment to the implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled and its appreciation of the Government of Canada in acceding to the treaty and bringing it into force. Canadian librarians are eager to make use of the legislative changes to make literary, musical, artistic or dramatic works (other than film) accessible to persons with print disabilities.”
Ms. Owen served as Director of Library Services at CNIB Library for the Blind prior to joining the University of Toronto. She holds a Master’s in Library Science and a Master’s in Law, specializing in intellectual property. She has been an adjunct faculty member and guest lecturer on information policy at the University of Toronto’s iSchool. Her research focuses on the policy space occupied by libraries and librarians and the representation of the public interest in copyright. She is the current chair of CFLA’s Copyright Committee, a member of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries’ Policy Committee, a member of the Ontario Library Association’s Copyright Users Group, an elected Governing Board member of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions’ (IFLA), and past chair of IFLA’s Copyright and Other Legal Matters Committee.