Minnesota inventors kept us busy at the Minneapolis Central Library this past year. In addition to the monthly “patent talk” we hosted 3 classes on how to write and file a provisional patent application, which was presented by an attorney from LegalCORPS, a pro-bono lawyers group that serves the upper Midwest (Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin).
Amelia Cohoes and Walt Johnson were invited to speak at the Inventors Network meeting in April, just days after returning from the 40th Annual Training Seminar. There they had the opportunity to let the audience know about their local PTRC. Walt also highlighted PTRC services to a class of business school students in October at the Carlson School of Management, located at the University of Minnesota.
Walt did an overview of patents and trademarks in May at the James J. Hill Center in St. Paul. The attendees were entrepreneurs and small business owners.
In August, Gwen Blackwell and Alford Kindred, from the Elijah J. McCoy Midwest Regional Office, paid the library a visit to talk about intellectual property and what services they offer at the Detroit office. The next day they staffed a USPTO booth at the Minnesota State Fair where they helped kids make their own bracelets as part of a STEM initiative. 
The most exciting thing to report, however, is that Amelia is the current PTRCP fellow librarian! While Amelia is missed at Minneapolis Central everyone (especially Walt) looks forward to her return this fall. Since Walt is now working only 4 days a week, it will be great to have another librarian well versed in patents and trademarks to assist our inventors!
Respectfully Submitted,
Walt Johnson
Amelia Cohoes