Re: [PIUG List] Summary: requirements for becoming a professional patent searcher

Hi Richard and all,
I agree that the soft-skills are very important for a good searcher so I
do try to cover some of them in the final module (and final exam) of the
WON / Stichting GO course for new patent information specialists. This
course is held twice a year, usually in the Hague.

Thanks to everyone who has been contributing to this discussion. This
is a very exciting time because searchers from Europe and the US are
beginning to unite to determine the specific requirements for
certification of individual professionals. (We are also fortunate to
have some very important contributions to these efforts from Japan.)

It now seems likely that the PIUG Board may soon establish three
separate Working Groups related to this: Certification, Training, and
Mentorship. The PIUG Education and Training Taskforce will be meeting
again soon to discuss the proposed Working Groups and their potential
goals and/or action items.

If you would like to become involved then please let me know which area
you would like to personally focus on (certification, training, or
mentorship). Please also let me know if you would like your name put
forward for consideration as Chair or Co-Chair of any of the Working
Groups. The PIUG Board will make the final decision about the Working
Groups and their respective chairpersons.

This is a final call for volunteers to work on these activities which
will certainly impact our profession for many years to come. We already
have a lot of volunteers (over 30) but more are always welcome!

Thanks

Lucy Akers
 
Chair, PIUG Education and Training Taskforce
Special Envoy to CEPIUG
-----------------------

Richard Suppers wrote:

>Indeed :)
>
>At the risk of kicking in an open door:
>
>Many people may fit all the requirements on education or technical
>background and still not be a good searcher.
>a certain state of mind is required, I agree on the flexible and
>devious; maybe add some paranoia?
>
>A good searcher always questions him/herself and his/her results and is
>not easily satisfied, so (s)he is always checking methods and tools.
>Self-critisism is a must.
>Communicative skills are essential, since few people appear to be able
>to ask exactly that what they want to know.
>Customer-orientation is important; knowing/realizing what level of
>result the customer needs - it's a bit overdone to overload a customer
>with 1000 hits if 2 would be sufficient to solve his problem.
>
>
>These 'soft' competences may be more difficult to train.
>However, these are exactly the skills I find lacking in most people who
>think they can search.
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Adrienne Shanler [mailto:shanlera_at_optonline.net]
>Sent: Monday, 01 September, 2008 23:45
>To: PIUG Discussion List @ Listbox
>Subject: Re: [PIUG List] Summary: requirements for becoming a
>professional patent searcher
>
>
>I also want to add a flexible, devious mind.
>
>Patent searching is an art as well as a science and doing the background
>
>work is extremely important.
>
>I look at a patent as hiding something in plain sight. The invention is
>
>frequently referred to using an unusual designation or name or described
>in
>nonstandard or unusual terms. The name can be an old name or one used
>only
>within that organization. For instance, I was interested in a gene that
>was
>referred to as a certain kD size ORF, not by name, gene, function, EC
>number, reaction, etc. I found it using a BLAST search but the text
>search
>also retrieved relevant answers not in the BLAST search (and vice
>versa). A
>second example is a US patent that described a set of polypeptides in
>terms
>of only binding properties. It was very broad and extremely vague and
>from
>the 1990s. I finally figured out it was trying to patent antibodies in
>general.
>
>As an exercise, how would (or could) you describe a diamond or
>alternately
>call a diamond?
>--carbon crystalline lattice formed under heat and pressure
>--transparent, colorless coal --substance able to scratch glass --stone
>frequently found in engagement rings --Markush set of zirconia,
>moissanite and similar entities etc.
>
>Adrienne Shanler
>shanlera_at_optonline.net
>
>
>
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Received on Thu Sep 04 2008 - 16:27:19