Melissa Levine provides guidance on all aspects of copyright policy and practice, helping the University of Michigan community understand copyright.  She is the principal investigator for the Copyright Review Management System (CRMS), an IMLS-supported effort to learn more about the copyright status of books in HathiTrust.

Melissa has extensive experience with copyright matters. At the Smithsonian Institution, Melissa handled licensing and contract negotiations for publishing, product development, electronic rights, audiovisual media, exhibitions, and festivals (1990-96). At the Library of Congress, Melissa was Assistant General Counsel and Legal Advisor to the National Digital Library Project, serving as counsel to a $60 million program focused on digital preservation and Internet access to American history primary materials in print, text, image, music, sound recordings, and film media (1996-2001). She developed copyright and other rights and permissions policies for worldwide dissemination of collections online, advised senior management on intellectual property and interrelated business and strategic issues, worked with the U.S. Copyright Office and other organizations and government agencies on copyright issues, and represented The Library of Congress in inter-agency meetings and initiatives related to copyright and digital libraries.

Melissa also works in the arena of museum policy and management having served as the Exhibits and Outreach Librarian at the University of Michigan Library, Acting Director of the Frost Art Museum at Florida International University, Associate Director for Finance and Administration at the Wolfsonian Museum, and Acting Curator of the World Bank’s Art program. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Michigan School of Information where she teaches a course on intellectual property and information law. Melissa also teaches a course on museums, law, and policy for the Johns Hopkins University’s masters in museum studies program.

Melissa was recently invited to serve on the steering committee for the University of Michigan’s masters of museum studies program and is a member of the ABA publications committee. She serves on the DPLA working group that developed rightsstatements.org in cooperation with Europeana. Melissa received her undergraduate degree in history and art history from Emory University and is a graduate of the University of Miami School of Law. She participated in the 2011 Frye Leadership Institute cohort.