This has been a particularly active year. Since last year’s seminar (attended by colleague and STEM Librarian Nashieli Marcano), we have answered tons of patent and trademark questions, given several classes and workshops, and generally supported intellectual property at Clemson.
In the fall, we hosted a group of Boy Scouts at Merit Badge University. 20 energetic young men attended, and made great strides towards earning their Inventing Merit Badge. It was a TON of work, but I had a lot of help, including guest speakers from the Technology Transfer Office, and 2 rock star Clemson inventors. Special thanks to Nashieli for being an awesome co-host.
This year I taught a section of LIB 3010 Patent Searching in the fall, and once again in the spring. This is a one-hour credit-bearing course geared to engineering students preparing for design classes, although any student can enroll. I even had an accounting major this spring. I had two great group of students.
The brightest spot of my year was hosting Neil Massong and Rob Berry at a Seminar celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Clemson PTRC. There were many highlights, including cupcakes, sushi, and adult beverages. Oh, and a GREAT program! One that was well-received by 50 or so participants. Plus excellent staff training on the next day. Special thanks to Paulina Borrego who was also in attendance and provided vital support for all of the planning, preparation and implementation of the celebration.
I would like to encourage all PTRC Representatives to join our professional association, PTRCA (Patent and Trademark Resource Center Association). It is a very collegial group, as I am sure most of you have already learned. One of my contributions to PTRCA is to administer the PTRCA-L listserv. This is a lively list, but not overwhelming. Members ask great questions, and share lots of information that is not specific to the PTRC program. Such as: book suggestions, teaching tips, non-USPTO databases and resources, and how to deal with specific questions from patrons. If you are interested, shoot me an email: [email protected]