Michigan Tech’s Van Pelt and Opie Library has received official designation from the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property to establish a Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC) in the library. The PTRC will make available the rich resources of technical and commercial information contained in patents and trademarks for inventors, researchers, students, faculty and businesses. Key databases and up-to-date news about intellectual property have never been easily accessible in the Upper Peninsula (and neighboring geographic locations) and are rarely located in rural areas.
This fall, there will be an opening event after which workshops will be available for all. Faculty and other instructors are encouraged also to think about the opportunities within their teaching that would promote the use of these resources to students, labs and entrepreneurial groups or teams.
The impetus for seeking official PTRC status was inspired by Jim Baker’s (executive director, Innovation and Industry Engagement) dedication to instructing graduate students about patents in the library’s NSF-funded Intellectual Property: Copyright and Patents (Is it Original?) program over the past three years.
This program was originally developed by Christa Walck, associate provost, with extensive involvement by Nora Allred, copyright and scholarly communications librarian, and Baker. Graduate students at Michigan Tech and at our partner, University of Texas-Pan American, are keenly interested in patents.
A new instruction and learning librarian, Sarah Lucchesi, took the initiative to pursue this designation, has received specialized training and can be contacted for further information: 7-3379 or slucches@mtu.edu.
submitted by the Van Pelt and Opie Library
Published in Tech Today