I am Karen Kitchens the State Publications Librarian at the Wyoming State Library (WSL), located in Cheyenne. I have a BA in Political Science from The University of Akron and a Master of Library Science from Texas Woman’s University. At WSL I am primarily responsible for the Patent and Trademark Resource Center Program (PTRC) and the Wyoming State Publications Repository Program collections, which are housed at the WSL. I have resided in Wyoming for 26 years and have worked at WSL for 7 ½ years. Prior to this, I worked as a Reference Librarian and Adult Programming Specialist at the Laramie County Library in Cheyenne. WSL has been a PTRC since 2001.
The Wyoming PTRC offered individual preliminary patent search training throughout the year. An increased number of in person contacts were a direct result of referrals from both the Wyoming Research Product Development Center and the Wyoming Small Business Development Center. However, the majority of Wyoming PTRC patrons continue to be limited to either phone or email training.
On September 27, 2016 the WSL PTRC conducted hour long training on Patent Searching for Technical Information. This presentation was in partnership with the University of Wyoming Coe Libraries, STEM Liaison Librarian Judy Pasek. The presentation was open to all University of Wyoming School of Engineering students and staff. In attendance were both students and staff. Attendee response was overwhelmingly positive. As a result of this presentation, several students subsequently contacted WSL PTRC for further patent searching help. The University of Wyoming is not home to a PTRC, and as such this was a great opportunity to create an ongoing partnership with the STEM Liaison Librarian for future trainings.