The Librarian of Congress has appointed Maria Pallante to serve as Acting Register of Copyrights. As per the Copyright Office’s press release:

Maria A. Pallante, senior adviser to the Librarian of Congress, has been appointed Acting Register of Copyrights, effective Jan. 1, 2011. She will serve until the next Register of Copyrights is selected and assumes the duties of the position. The current register, Marybeth Peters, will retire on Dec. 31, after 16 years in the position.

“The position of Register of Copyrights is extremely important to the copyright community, the Library of Congress and the United States, and requires a significant skill set. It is important that we proceed diligently in making that appointment,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. “In the meantime, Maria is an experienced copyright lawyer and manager, and I am grateful that she is willing to oversee the registration, policy and other important functions of the Copyright Office for as long as we need her.”

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Pallante has spent much of her career in New York. From 1999-2007, she served as intellectual property counsel and director of licensing for the Guggenheim Museums, where she advised on programmatic and business initiatives related to worldwide publishing, product development and branding; the acquisition and exhibition of contemporary art; and the operation of overseas affiliates and licensees. Earlier in her career, she worked in private practice and on the staffs of the Authors Guild and National Writers Union, respectively.

Pallante earned her juris doctor degree from George Washington University and her bachelor’s degree from Misericordia University, where she was also awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters.

Nimmer on Copyright, Goldstein’s Copyright’s Highway, Patry on Fair Use, and Lerner’s set on Art Law . . . that’s certainly a sufficiently nerdy enough book collection.