George Thuronyi Appointed Interim Head of the Office of Public Information and Education

Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter today announced that George Thuronyi will serve as interim head of the Office of Public Information and Education at the United States Copyright Office, effective July 27, 2021. He will begin this role upon the departure of Associate Register of Copyrights and Director of Public Information and Education Catherine Zaller Rowland on July 26.

Rowland leaves the Copyright Office after more than ten years of dedicated service to the Office. During her tenure, she led the Office of Public Information and Education, established its Outreach and Education Section, and worked closely with its Public Information Office. Under her direction, the Office released numerous resources including videos, events, tailored presentations, publications, and a comprehensive update of the copyright.gov website. She also served as the chair of the Copyright Review Board and led or co-led four policy studies, including the copyright small claims study, which made a number of recommendations adopted by Congress in the CASE Act.

"Catie served the Office as both a skilled lawyer and visionary leader and played a key role in helping the Office educate the public about the copyright system," said Perlmutter. "Her expertise in copyright law, policy, and educational outreach provided invaluable contributions to a wide array of Office initiatives throughout her tenure."

Thuronyi joined the Copyright Office in 1999 and has served in various roles as acting chief, assistant chief, recordation section head, and, most recently, as deputy director of the Office of Public Information and Education. He also has extensive experience with the Office's online presence, including serving as one of the Office's early webmasters and designing the earliest search engine to give users easy access to the millions of records in the copyright catalog.

"George has extensive experience with the Office and its mission," stated Perlmutter. "He has been instrumental in the success of the Office of Public Information and Education and will ably guide the Office as interim head."

Thuronyi started his career as a writer/editor at the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, part of the Library of Congress. He wrote a book on the history of a volunteer equipment-repair program. He also set up the NLS web presence and worked on Web-Braille, the world's first full-text digital Braille distribution system. Thuronyi received a bachelor of science in journalism from the University of Maryland, focusing on public relations and minoring in German.