This newsletter of The PTRCA and the 2013 PTRC Program’sTraining Seminar will be my swansong, as I am retiring in early June. I have to say that my professional relationships with the PTRCA and the staff at the PTRC Program have been among the highlights of my library career. As a past President of the PTRCA, I cannot speak highly enough of the support I have received from the association members and the camaraderie we have shared since I embarked on this aspect of my professional life in 1999. I wish all of you the best in the coming years.
Since I assumed responsibilities at the Wichita State University Libraries as Director for Public Services in 2008, I have continued to provide information and training for Kansas independent inventors and individuals needing information regarding the trademark process, as well as lecturing to classes in Engineering and Entrepreneurship. In this past year, I am still communicating or meeting with dozens of people monthly; however, I regret that there has not been time to produce anything innovative or of a scholarly nature. I will update all my handouts for the last time in May and submit them to the PTRCA handout exchange. I am in the process of training all the seven other librarians in our Research Services Group to handle the basics of intellectual property training. When a specific person has been appointed as the new representative, I will post it to the PTRC listserv.
The Kansas Regional Independent Inventors Conference will be taking place April 19-20, 2013. Since this event is scheduled during the PTRC Program’s annual training seminar, I will not be able to attend. However, this is a great opportunity for the Wichita area and for Kansas inventors to receive in-depth information as well as one-on-one advisory sessions from IP experts from the USPTO, the U.S. Small Business Association, and the Wichita District Office of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The conference is sponsored and organized by the Wichita State University Center for Innovation and Enterprise Engagement (CIEE), a relatively new venture funded by grants submitted by WSU’s College of Engineering. For more information on CIEE see http://webs.wichita.edu/?u=ciee&p=/About_the_CIEE/About_The_CIEE/