20 Years and 20 Stories | Jean Dryden

“The way to grow personally or professionally is to find the courage to challenge yourself and try new things — new opportunities will undoubtedly emerge.”

With an MA in Canadian history, I got a job as an archivist at the National Archives of Canada. Being an archivist was not something I had dreamed of; in fact, I had no idea that the profession existed until I began research on my thesis. Despite that, what started as a job became a career as I moved through a series of progressively more responsible positions at the National Archives of Canada, the Provincial Archives of Alberta, and as Chief Archivist of the United Church of Canada/Victoria University Archives.

My interest in copyright law began when I had to write a research paper on an archival topic as part of my archival training. I chose copyright because it had a reputation as being dull and difficult, and I thought that I would never voluntarily learn about it unless I had to. As a result of that initial exploration, I have been involved in copyright advocacy and professional development for archivists throughout my career. In 1996-97, I played a lead role in successful lobbying for amendments to the Copyright Act that benefited libraries, archives and museums.

After 25+ years as an archivist, I established a somewhat eclectic consultancy, providing services in archives, records management, and copyright. Concurrently, I completed a PhD at the University of Toronto; my dissertation investigated the copyright practices of Canadian archival repositories in making their holdings available online. From 2008-2011, I taught archives and records management at the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland. After returning to Toronto in 2011, I have resumed my consulting practice and completed OsgoodePD’s LLM program, specializing in Intellectual Property. Two things have motivated me: a willingness to try new things (even if they are daunting), and a desire to keep learning.