Cleveland Public Library’s (CPL) PTRC is located in the Science & Technology Dept. We have 5 staff that can assist with IP: Don Boozer, Rose Mary Hoge, Elvira Baron, Peter London, and Jim Bettinger, PTRC Representative. There is 3 capable staff in Government Documents Dept. that assists with IP as well: Sarah Dobransky, Alea Lytle, and Erick Walker. The Science & Technology Dept., located on the 3rd floor of the Louis Stokes Wing, has four machines with 24” monitors that access PubWEST and PubEAST. Government Documents Dept., located on the 4th floor of the Louis Stokes Wing, has one machine. Our institutional archivist Annmarie Wieland found evidence of the library receiving patent documents in the 1880s. Official designation as a Patent Depository Library came in 1890.
The CWRU School of Law hosts the IP Venture Clinic (IPVC) and Ohio Patent Pro Bono Program. Grant Corboy and Tara Ho from the USPTOs Patent Pro Bono Program gave a presentation at CPL, along with law professor Ted Theofrastou, in April 2018 (during Seminar 40) to a group of inventors.
Jim taught two sessions in the Fall of 2018 to IPVC students (3L). On October 1, he taught patent searching and on October 15 he taught trademark searching.
The team of Don, Sarah, and Jim has been meeting with staff from IPVC for the past year and a half to become a more cohesive voice in the field of IP for the entire community.
This year, we have added another group, Jumpstart, to our coalition. JumpStart’s mission is to unlock the full potential of diverse and ambitious entrepreneurs to economically transform entire communities. They have been in the community since 2003.
Plans came to fruition for an Unconference on Saturday February 2, 2019. Together, with CPLs own TechCentral, our contact list numbered over 700. We were able to provide 60 attendees with 15 vendors and four speakers. Jim was one of the featured speakers. The Unconference was scheduled for two hours. Many positive conversations and relationships have been formed. We have follow-ups planned throughout the year to keep the conversation going for this group. The first follow-up is scheduled for Thursday April 11 at a local brewpub, featuring a local entrepreneur.
The Unconference was held on the campus of CWRU, in the Sears Think[box]. https://engineering.case.edu/sears-thinkbox
It is an amazing facility. It is 7 stories and 50,000 sq.ft – a maker’s dream – and open to the public.
CPL celebrates 150 years of service this year. We will have year-long activities to celebrate, including the CPL 150 Street Festival in front of Main Building on Saturday July 27 for food, games, music, and more! https://cpl.org/cleveland-public-library-set-to-begin-celebration-for-150-years-of-service/
Also, Cleveland is hosting SLA in June, from 14th – 18th. The convention center is two blocks away from CPL Main. The Cleveland Indians are hosting the All-Star game on July 9. If you are in town, come on in and say hello.