Public Records Division/Public Information Services Division
Public User's Meeting
November 19, 2008 2:00 p.m.
Jefferson Building Conference Center
The Public User's Meeting was held at 2:00 p.m. in the 1st floor conference room 1D70/1D80 of the Jefferson Building at 500 Dulany Street on the USPTO campus in Alexandria, Virginia. Martha Sneed, Manager of PISD, chaired the meeting. There were 3 members of the public in attendance.
Announcement
The office is constructing a new snack bar on the lower atrium level of the Madison Building called Innovative Grounds. Construction is expected to last for up 4 weeks. During the construction the public rest rooms on the lower level may be closed intermittently.
Public Search Facility (PSF) Updates
Director Dudas announced that the office will have a 2 hour early dismissal on Wednesday, November 26 for the Thanksgiving holiday. As a result, the PSF will close at 6:00 p.m. rather than 8:00 pm.
A summary report of the PSF customer survey is now available at the Reference Desk in the PSF. The rate of participation in the 2008 survey doubled from the 2006 survey. Improvement showed in all areas. The plan is to continue conducting the surveys on a biennial basis.
UPWS has remained fairly stable over the last few weeks. Public PAIR has continued to be up and down.
Customer Question: What exactly does the Derwent database available through UPWS cover? A user reported that the dates used by PSF and STIC are inconsistent. He recommends that PSF provide a patent files summary for this similar to the one Patty Young prepares with other holdings information. He requested that a routine publication schedule for this information also be distributed.
Customer Question: Besides Thanksgiving Eve, are there any additional planned early closures for the PSF? If there are, can there be advance notice? Martha reported that we do not always have advance notice, especially in the case of inclement weather. PSF always posts as much advance notice as is available. Martha recommended that the user refer to the OPM (opm.gov) website for government operating status. She did confirm that we know the government will be closed on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009.
Security: A customer reported that he is working with J.R. Garland to determine whether special security status may be established for regular PSF users. He will report back in the future if a special status can be arranged.
Public Records Division
The South Tower move to Randolph Square in Shirlington will probably not start before March '09. The date has slipped a few weeks from a previous announcement. The move process is expected to take less than a month to complete.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:35 p.m. Next meeting date is December 17, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. in the Jefferson conference center room 1D70/1D80.