During 2013 we continued to reach out to inventors, entrepreneurs and small business owners through a variety of programs.
I did my “patent talk” a total of 18 times: 12 at Minneapolis Central and 6 at suburban libraries in the system. Although the number of attendees isn’t as big as when I started here almost 20 years ago, the people who do show up are more serious and focused on the patenting process.
We also continued our partnership with LegalCORPS and SCORE, offering classes and one-on-one sessions with the public. We hosted the “Traps and Pitfalls in Intellectual Property” class three times. The main audience is the general public, but often lawyers and attorneys will take it for continuing education credit.
For the first time LegalCORPS presented “Writing a Provisional Patent Application Workshop” at the library. Nearly 30 people attended and many of those had the opportunity for an individual coaching session with a LegalCORPS attorney after the class. The class was so successful and feedback so positive we hope to do this regularly now, three or four times a year.
In February I was invited to host and be the featured speaker for a local Meetup Group: Innovators and Entrepreneurs of MSP.
An inventor and I were filmed in May, discussing patents and trademarks in general and highlighting the services we offer at the library. It was to be part of a collection of short videos featuring our special collections, but so far has not surfaced yet on the library’s website. Maybe this year…
The National History Day theme for 2013 was “Turning Points.” Once again the library hosted three History Day Hullabaloos where students could get assistance and guidance from college student volunteers, MN Historical Society staff and librarians. Several students featured inventions in their work and it was fun to help them track down historic patents.
Respectfully submitted,
Walt Johnson
Hennepin County Library—Minneapolis Central
4 March 2014