Detroit, MI

2014 has been a challenging year for us here at the Detroit Public Library. As we move into 2015 there is a spirit of optimism. We are lean and mean, and working harder than ever to provide good customer service.

Our focus last year had been on outreach and involvement with inventor groups. We have also been reaching out to the local business community with a dual purpose. We’ve been marketing our business resources and PTRC services together. Other business organizations are spreading the word. We’ve also attended Saturday Seminars at the Detroit Satellite Office, where we get a chance to promote our services. In September we had a table at the Michigan Inventors Coalition in Lansing.

I am on the board of two inventor groups, and have several times made presentations to them on the importance of a PTRC, and on new developments in the world of IP. I tutor patent searching on the individual level, as the inventor groups choose to focus most of their time on marketing. They are also a source of referrals to our PTRC.

In February I presented a program African American Inventors in History. David Head, author of the book Granville T. Woods, African American Communication and Transportation Pioneer, was in attendance. I asked him to contribute to the program, and found him to have encyclopedic knowledge on many of the historic black inventors. The DPL will host him later on as part of our Author Series. I am planning another program in May, in cooperation with the Detroit USPTO Satellite Office.

We updated our ancient microfilm readers with a ST ViewScan II, which works wonderfully. It has an attachment for cartridge microfilm, so that our collection of patents on microfilm can be used.

Just last week I was promoted to Manager of BST/SSER, which is an abbreviation for two combined departments – Business, Science and Technology and Social Science, Education and Religion. They are too long to fit on a business card. I will continue to be the PTRC Representative.

The Detroit Public Library has been a PTRC since 1871. The library was founded in 1865, and is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year on March 25. I hope this puts to rest the myth that Thomas Edison studied at the Detroit Public Library when he was employed as a teenager, working on the railroad line between Port Huron and Detroit. That was in 1861, and he must have studied at one of the small private libraries that were in existence at the time. I’m sure he visited us at some time after our founding.

Best wishes to all,
Mary Kordyban
PTRC Representative
Detroit Public Library