Month: March 2020

Spring Semester Libraries Student Assistant Awards

Posted on by linda

Nine students were selected for the Spring semester awards and received a $500 award for their excellent job performance in the University Libraries.  Library Student Assistant Awards are funded by contributions to the Campus Scholarship Innovation Campaign from the University Libraries’ staff and other donors, with a matching contribution from the Friends of the Libraries.  To date, 409 awards have been distributed totaling over $190,650.

University Libraries’ staff and the Friends of the Libraries Board would like to congratulate this semester’s winners:

Rebekah Colliver – a Senior majoring in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Mack Banfield – a Senior majoring in Psychology

Genevieve Coutinho – a Senior majoring in Nursing

KC Lyphout – a Junior majoring in Dance

Alexis Rakovan – a Junior majoring in Rehabilitation Services

David Reeves – a Senior majoring in Computer Science

Anabelle Smith – a Sophomore majoring in Musical Theatre

Krishel Stout Hicks – a Senior majoring in Nursing

Daniel Talkington – a Sophomore majoring in Neuroscience

The University Libraries biannual Library Student Assistant Award (LSAA) reception that was scheduled for March 13, 2020, was cancelled due to COVID-19 precautionary measures.

Trademark Basics Workshop Saturday, March 21, 2020

Posted on by Sue Polanka
Arbys registered trademark

Just how do your customers find you?  By an address?  A website? A placard on a grocery cart?  Customers find businesses because of a source identifier called a trademark.  Trademarks are the fingerprints of commerce. Judgement on quality is one important aspect of a trademark.  A person who identifies a superior product versus another product knows the source of the superior product by its trademark.  Trademarks are a critical piece of a business’ intellectual property. 

How do you go about getting a trademark or service mark?   How do you avoid the dreaded “cease-and-desist” letters?  The first thing you have to do is to determine whether your trademark conflicts with current marks being used in the marketplace.  It is not as simple as typing in a word in the USPTO trademark research database, TESS.  For example, an trademark examiner search for the word juicy would look like this: *j{v:2}?{”scz”}*[bi,ti].  This type of search is called “pattern matching” and it will be explained and covered in the workshop.  When you research your mark, you will need to consider similar sounding words, meaning, foreign equivalents, transposition of words, synonyms, design, abbreviations and more!  There are also other ways to protect a mark; on the state level and by common law.

Continue reading “Trademark Basics Workshop Saturday, March 21, 2020” →

Libraries Team-Up for March Meal Madness

Posted on by Sue Polanka

According to the Raider Food Pantry, 48% of the students at Wright State University experience food scarcity. We can help our students by participating in the March Meal Madness event which runs from March 9th through April 3rd. This is a competitive food drive put on by the social work intern at the WSU Raider Food Pantry to help stock the pantry.

library staff with food donation box

How does March Meal Madness Work?

Different teams composed of WSU organizations and departments will compete each week in a bracket, much like March Madness, bringing in the most donated food items of the four-week competition trying to advance to the last week and win. The winner and runner-up will receive a trophy they can proudly display in a location of their choosing. The University Libraries is one of those teams! We are offering our “food for fines” deals to all who bring in donated items during the competition. We’ll also be raffling off a private study room for the week before finals. Get an entry each day you bring in a food donation between now and April 9th. Stop by our first-floor circulation desk for more information.

How can I help?

Bring in non-perishable food items and drop them in the collection box in the lobby of the Dunbar Library during the Madness event, March 9th – April 3rd. And remember, expiration dates are important!  Please make sure your items have an expiration date.  It is important to note that any items that are past their expiration date MAY NOT BE EXPIRED, and the pantry has information on how to handle these items; however, if an item has no expiration date at all, they have no way of knowing and therefore cannot use the item. 

2020 Census Information Available

Posted on by linda

The 2020 Census provides critical data that lawmakers, business owners, teachers, and many others use to provide daily services, products, and support for you and your community. The results of the 2020 Census will help determine how hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding flow into communities every year for the next decade. That funding shapes many different aspects of every community, no matter the size, no matter the location.

The results of the census also determine the number of seats each state will have in the US House of Representatives, and they are used to draw congressional and state legislative districts.

It’s also in the Constitution: Article 1, Section 2, which mandates that the country conduct a count of its population once every 10 years. The 2020 Census will mark the 24th time that the country has counted its population since 1790.

The University Libraries are a Federal Depository Library and are available to answer questions about accessing the US Census. You can find information about who should complete the census, where to find it, available languages, and how census data are used on our 2020 Census Guide.