Merrill Library Newsletter

Merrill Library Friends Newsletter – April 5, 2024

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In This Issue:

Author Reading & Reception
Demystifying Patents & Trademarks
Featured Resource: USDA Agricultural Statistics

Author Reading & Reception

Tuesday, April 23 @ 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Penny Guisinger, author of Shift: A Memoir of Identity and Other Illusions will read from her memoir and take questions in Merrill Library on Tuesday, April 23rd at 3pm. The event is free and open to the public.

Penny is the author of Postcards from Here. Her work has appeared in Fourth Genre, Guernica, River Teeth and other publications.

"In Shift, Penny recounts formative relationships with women and men, including the marriage that produced her two children and ultimately ended in part due to her affair with her now-wife." - University of Nebraska Press

"The specificity of this memoir - its depth, its nuance, its balance, and its story grips you and doesn't let go."- Morgan Talty author of Night of the Living Rez

Demystifying Patents and Trademarks

Morning Session: Friday, April 12 @ 10:00 pm - 11:30 pm

Afternoon Session: Friday, April 12 @ 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm

John Hutchinson, UMaine Librarian, will be giving two workshops about Patents and Trademarks during Maine Impact Week.

Obtaining a patent for an invention, or a trademark for goods and services, can be essential to businesses or individual entrepreneurs. But the process of obtaining them is often misunderstood. John, the representative for the Patent & Trademark Resource Center, is here to help, with two presentations on April 12th. In the morning session available, in person and via Zoom, John will give a presentation about what Patents & Trademarks are, and what benefits they provide, clearing up the misconceptions and confusion about these intellectual properties.

In the afternoon session, John will host a hands-on training session on how to research existing patented inventions, and finding currently registered United States trademarks. This kind of research is essential to any applicant, as well as being intellectually rewarding. Teaching people how to search is John's main duty as the rep for the PTRC, and he loves doing it. Bring your laptop and learn how to research patents and trademarks!

Both events will be on Friday, April 12th, in Fogler Library, Classroom 1. The morning session is 10-11:30, the Afternoon session is 3-4:30. Registration is required for both. Links to register are on the Maine Impact Week website.

Featured Resource: Agricultural Statistics

Agricultural Statistics

This United States Department of Agriculture website provides data on crops and plants by state and county. The Quick Stats database is the most comprehensive tool for accessing agricultural data published by NASS. Find and download agricultural statistics for every state and county in the United States.

You can also download Quick Stats data (*.gz). The data files are updated following each week day.

Visit the Quick Stats Tools page to see other available resources.

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