2020 - Patent and Trademark Resource Center Association

Akron, OH

Akron-Summit County Public Library
Submitted by: Stephanie Jolliff

It has been a wonderful year at the Akron, OH PTRC!

We continue to teach 2 monthly programs…Introduction to Intellectual Property and Introduction to Patents and Patent Searching. We seem to have had an increase in attendance these last few months, which has truly enriched our programs. I credit this to our local Akron SCORE group who is a wonderful partner in advertising our programs as well as our new events calendar sign up through the Akron Summit County Public Library website. Continue reading

Amherst, MA

University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Submitted by: Paulina Borrego

UMass Amherst PTRC continues to gain traction with the on-campus and off-campus community. Services are provided in-person, over the phone, and through virtual systems. The Patent Pro Se Virtual Assistance Program continues to get some participants and a number of patrons have been referred to the Patent Pro Bono Program of New England. Most notably, interest in the many files of paper plant patents, as well as online searching of plant patents, became of importance to a graduate student researching the spread of invasive plants. Continue reading

Atlanta, GA

Georgia Tech University
Submitted by: Lisha Li

The Georgia Tech Library became a Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC), then Patent Depository Library (PDL), in 1946. Lisha Li is the current PTRC Representative, and she has been serving in this capacity since 2010.

In 2019, the PTRC Representative continued to offer the monthly patent class. Over 200 people attended these on-site classes. To meet the demands of online and distance learning students, as well as inventors and entrepreneurs in remote areas, Continue reading

Austin, TX

University of Texas at Austin
Submitted by: Larayne Dallas

This event happened almost a year ago (as I prepare the text) but it is the biggest thing to happen to us in a long time, so I want to be sure and share.

McKinney Engineering Library; University of Texas at Austin

On 11 March 2019, in conjunction with Austin’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference, Hope Shimabuku, Regional Director for the Texas Regional Office, and Molly Kocialski, Regional Director for the Rocky Mountain Regional Office, Continue reading

Cincinnati, OH

Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County
Submitted by: Linda Kocis

Linda Kocis is the Intellectual Property Librarian at the Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County. She oversees the Patent & Trademark Resource Center, which is housed in the Information & Reference Department at the Main Library in downtown Cincinnati. In addition to courses in patent and trademark searching, Linda meets with customers individually to answer all types of questions including those about filing applications. The Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County has been a member of the PTRC since the program started, Continue reading

College Station, TX

Texas A&M
Submitted by: Jared Hoppenfeld

Howdy from the Texas A&M University Business Library & Collaboration Commons, home of the College Station, Texas PTRC since December 22, 1983. I, Jared Hoppenfeld, along with assistance from library staff member Boyd Conerway, are happy to assist students, faculty, and community members with their P&T questions.

If our library name sounds new to you, you are correct! After 25 years of being named the West Campus Library, we decided to rebrand to better illustrate who we mainly support, Continue reading

Dayton, Ohio

Wright State University
Submitted by: Ran Raider

The Paul Laurence Dunbar Library has been a PTRC since 2000. Our PTRC collection is located in the commons area of the main library. Access to PubWEST and PubEAST is through the Information Desk. We established a PTRC only workstation area for more privacy.

In 2019, we had 192 requests for intellectual property information through email, telephone, and appointments. Community presentations had 45 attendees. For on campus classes we reached 207 undergraduate and graduate students. Continue reading

Highland Heights, KY

Northern Kentucky University
Submitted by: John Schlipp

Continue readingThe Highland Heights, Kentucky PTRC at Northern Kentucky University’s Steely Library interacted with nealry 600 customers via face-to-face reference or Zoom virtual reference, college class instruction, campus and community presentations, and workshops. Craig Morris, Managing Attorney for Trademark Educational Outreach at the USPTO, revisited our region on Tuesday, September 17, 2019. He presented a well-received, morning trademark workshop for businesses at the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce in Ft. Mitchell, KY. Later that evening, Craig provided an encore trademark program at the Public Library of Cincinnati &

Honolulu, HI

Hawaii State Library
Submitted by: Emily Dovermann

Greetings and best wishes for everyone’s good health and safety during this coronavirus pandemic. We are currently under a lockdown order until April 30.

Located in the Federal Documents Section on the 2nd floor of the Hawaii State Library at 478 South King Street, Honolulu, HI 96813, Honolulu Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC) has been serving the Hawaii and Pacific Region since December 18, 1989.

Emily Dovermann is the current PTRC representative. Continue reading

Houston, TX

Rice University
Submitted by: Siu Min Yu

Houston’s PTRC is located in Fondren Library, Kelley Center for Government Information. It is part of the Federal Depository Library at Rice University.

Houston PTRC continues to assist inventors in the Houston area, offering monthly patent searching classes, in addition to one on one lessons by appointment. We held fifteen patent and trademark classes and assisted over three hundred area inventors last year. In June 2019, Siu Min Yu attended the STOPfake roadshow in Houston which was sponsored by the Department of Commerce. Continue reading

Las Cruces, NM

New Mexico State University
Submitted by: David Irvin

The New Mexico State University PTRC began to pivot this year to more local and state outreach activities. While we continue to receive calls and emails from across the state, we found that our local participation numbers had decreased from the previous year, which may have to do with a lack of awareness of the program and the free tools we offer. As these things can happen, we received several invitations to speak in the Las Cruces area, Continue reading

Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles Public Library
Submitted by: Stella Mittelbach

My name is Stella Mittelbach and I am the PTRC representative at Los Angeles Public Library’s Central Library on Lower Level 2 in the Science, Technology & Patents Dept. Los Angeles Public Library was among the original 22 PTRCs (then called PTDLs) when the program was established in the 1870s.

Since the last PTRC seminar, my department opened and staffed a new and very well equipped DIY maker-space called the Octavia Lab. (https://lapl.org/labs). Continue reading

Morgantown, WV

West Virginia Unversity
Submitted by: Marian Armour-Gemmen

Morgantown, WV

Submitted Founded in 1991, the Evansdale PTRC in Morgantown, WV serves not only our campus’s engineers, agriculturists, and designers, but also health professionals, business students, scientists, young entrepreneurs from West Virginia University, as well as inventors and entrepreneurs throughout the State of West Virginia. Working as a part of WVU’s IDEA Hub, the Library is an important part of the University’s services to entrepreneurs and innovators who are students, faculty, and citizens of West Virginia. Continue reading

Piscataway, NJ

Rutgers University
Submitted by: Connie Wu

News from Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ

I am Connie Wu, Engineering and Patent Information Specialist at Rutgers University in NJ.

As the Representative for USPTO’s Patent and Trademark Resources Centers Program, I have been extremely busy with patron trainings, references, database searching and answering AAL and Ref Chat question about IP. Based on reference statistical report, I was on the top of Off Desk Reference among science librarians. For example, out of 172 total off reference desk questions answered by LSM librarians between Jan 2019 and Dec, Continue reading

Rochester, NY

Carlson Public Library
Submitted by: Kate Meddaugh

Hi all. My name is Kate Meddaugh and I am the manager of the Carlson PTRC. We’re located in a large public library in downtown Rochester, in the Business Insight Center. We’ve been a PTRC since 1999. The biggest news here is that last July we formed a new division in our library called the Business Insight Center. Our focus is entirely on helping businesses and entrepreneurs start or grow their business and protect their assets. Continue reading

Salt Lake City, UT

University of Utah
Submitted by: Alfred Mowdood

The University of Utah and the J. Willard Marriott Library have been a PTRC since 1984. With two librarians providing support for the PTRC, we have increased our visibility throughout the state. We have created new promotional materials, increased outreach, and offered more classes.Image 1: Tallie Casucci worked with our graphic design team to create this handout on paperboard stock.

Image 1: Tallie Casucci worked with our graphic design team to create this handout on paperboard stock. Continue reading