The Akron PTRC, this last year has been a combination of new things and the traditional “business as usual” activities. Our patent team is myself and Michele McNeal. Our newest librarian, Stephanie Jolliff is currently learning to teach the two IP classes we have on a monthly basis. Those are “Introduction to Intellectual Property” and “Introduction to Patents & Patent Searching”.
We have a new staff member, Chad Weaver who started this past year and he is attending the PTRC conference with Stephanie Jolliff. We started The Akron Inventors Club a little over a year ago with a local entrepreneur and it has been a continued success, getting about 20 per meeting. We put on our fourth Mini Maker Faire in November and drew 1600 people, coming to check out over 50 makers! Our PTRC also had four “Ask a Patent Attorney” sessions where people could sign up for a free one on one 20 min session with a registered Patent Attorney. These are always very popular.
Our Library also has two new Divisions that the independent inventor and small business owner are finding very useful, TechZone at Main (a makerspace that has 3-D, laser and vinyl printers, a recording studio, green screen and video production tools and much more) and The Microbusiness Center (which has a variety of resources and guidance for someone starting a small business).
We look forward to another year filled with the continuous wonders of Intellectual Property!