Public User's Meeting

Public Records Division (PRD)/Public Search Services Division (PSSD)
Quarterly Public User's Meeting
November 2, 2010

The Public User's Meeting was held at 2:00 p.m. in the Global IP Academy, Madison East, 2nd floor, at 600 Dulany Street on the USPTO campus in Alexandria, Virginia. Martha Sneed, Manager of PSSD, chaired the meeting. There were two members of the public in attendance.

Announcements

  • Public Search Facility (PSF) will close on Nov. 11, 2010 for the Veteran's Day holiday and will re-open on Friday, Nov. 12, 2010.
  • PSF also will close on Thursday, Nov. 25, 2010 in observance of the Thanksgiving Day federal holiday and will re-open on Friday, Nov. 26, 2010.
  • PSF will close for two federal holidays in Dec. 2010: Friday, December 24th and Friday, December 31st and will re-open on the next work day after each holiday.


Public Search Facility Update

  • Please check literature racks located near the public on-line service desks for new and improved search guides. In response to feedback received in the Public Search Facility 2010 Customer Satisfaction Survey, the Public Search Facility staff members have initiated an on-going project to improve search guides and instructional materials.
  • The annual operating status information reminder will be posted in the Public Search Facility the first of December. During this season of inclement weather, the public is reminded to consult the information provided by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) regarding federal agency operating status.
  • There are no UPWS changes/updates at this time. Assignment Historical Database server upgrade is planned for the weekend of November 6-7, 2010. It is anticipated that public searchers will experience a marked improvement in the response time when using this information search service.
  • UPWS Notepad glitches have been addressed and should now operate properly.


Chief Information Officer John Owens

Mr. Owens attended the Public Users meeting to field questions/concerns. He reminded the users that while attendance at the regular public user meetings remains fairly low, he hopes that any special meetings that are called are well-attended.

SIRA - JPO/EPO database interface problem which was mentioned last meeting is still not resolved because the customer and the SIRA contact person have not successfully connected. Doug Salser will get with the SIRA contact person for a reschedule.

User Question: Old file histories - can they be removed from the database and only keep the most current, up-to-date? Answer: No, cannot legally be done. All the histories must be made available in the database for whoever needs the information.

Public Records Division Update

No updates to report.

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The meeting was adjourned at 2:21pm. Next meeting will be in Feb. 2011, date/time to be announced.