This event happened almost a year ago (as I prepare the text) but it is the biggest thing to happen to us in a long time, so I want to be sure and share.
McKinney Engineering Library; University of Texas at Austin
On 11 March 2019, in conjunction with Austin’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference, Hope Shimabuku, Regional Director for the Texas Regional Office, and Molly Kocialski, Regional Director for the Rocky Mountain Regional Office, presented on Protecting Your Intellectual Capital – The Benefits of Provisional Patent Applications. Sponsored by the Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship as one of their #What StartsUpHere programs, it began with a PTRC visit in February.
Hope visited with us on 12 February 2019 and asked to have a meeting with our community. We invited staff from campus libraries and Hope invited representatives of TALA (Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts), the group partnering with the USPTO in the Patent Pro Bono program for inventors in Texas and Louisiana. (The TALA folks testified as to how difficult it can be to find our location on campus.)
Expecting to be back for SXSW, Hope proposed a program for the benefit of conference attendees and to draw on the energy of the event. Our colleague Jessica Yeager, Librarian and Academic Program Coordinator with the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, made it happen. Jessica’s co-workers at Petroleum Engineering got in touch with staff in the Herb Kelleher Center (McCombs School of Business – University of Texas at Austin) and everything was soon arranged. Ashley Jennings of the Kelleher staff earns special thanks for arranging a great event.
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On regular days, our service is offered out of the McKinney Engineering Library at the University of Texas at Austin. The library was designated as a “depository library” on June 16, 1983. I’ve been with the library since 1987. Over the years, the number of Engineering Library staff members has been reduced until I am the only one providing PTRC services, though I rely on our Libraries IT staff and am grateful for their support.
Larayne Dallas
Austin (TX) PTRC