Georgia Tech Library has gone through many changes 2011. The biggest of which was the grand opening of the G. Wayne Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons (Clough Commons) in August 2011. This 220,000 thousand square foot, sustainably-built and operated facility connected to the Library on two levels, is designed to centralize core support services of undergraduate learning and technology assistance, and to improve the academic success of students at Georgia Tech. The Clough Commons is part of the Library. The newly combined library service desk, including a designated patent consultation area, also opened in Fall 2011. A private office nearby for patent consultations will be available soon.
In addition to daily one-on-one appointments for patent and and trademarks with individual inventors, researchers and students, we offered two series of Intellectual Property in Academia seminars, one in spring and the other in fall. Classes in the series include overview of intellectual property, introduction to patent search, and trademark search made easy. We also taught several course-integrated patent classes to both graduate and undergraduate students.
In April 2011, Georgia Tech PTRC organized a poster display to celebrate the World Intellectual Property Day. Trivia questions about patents, trademarks, and notable inventors were distributed to students in the library.
In November, Lisha was invited by the Inventors Association of Georgia to give a talk on patent classification systems and patent search strategies. It was a very good experience for us to learn what inventors’ needs are and at the same time for inventors to learn about our resources and services.
Collaborating with the Inventors Association of Georgia, we are organizing a one day invention seminar on April 21, 2012. Speakers include experts from USPTO, Georgia Tech, the local inventors group, and businesses. We are working together to make this event a success. Georgia Tech Library has been a PTRC since 1946, one of the first 22 PTRCs. It is currently under the department of Research, Instruction & Outreach Services.