0172-2190/81/030103-07 802.00/0Prmted in Great Britain .

Pergamon International Information Corp .1981 CEC/WIP0

Access to Patent Information and

W ,rld Patent Information, Vol . 3 . No . 3, pp . 103-109 . 1981 .

Documentation in Public Patent Libraries

E. Thomsen, Birkerod, Denmark

Summary

The paper summarizes the results of a study performedin 1980 for the Commission of the EuropeanCommunities .

The objective of the study was : to study the organi-zation of existing public patent libraries and on thisbasis, supplemented with interviews with experts onpatent information, to draft recommendations for theimprovement of access to patent information in publicpatent libraries .

The patent offices of the Federal Republic of Germanyand France and the European Patent Office werevisited in addition to the Science Reference Library inLondon and patent libraries and patent informationcentres in : Nurnberg, Liverpool, Lyon, Strasbourg andToulouse .

The most important problem areas identified are :identification of user's needs,the extent of the documentation needed,publicity programmes,location of the patent information centres,organization and staffing of the centres .

The study is a supplement to two previous investi-gations sponsored by the Commission : Survey ofReadership in Public Patent Libraries and Investigationof the Present and Future Use of Patent Literature .

User's NeedsThe authors of the document Investigation of thePresent and Future use of Patent Literature' divide theusers of patent information into three categories, viz .patent professionals, patent-oriented users and poten-tial users . In the following exposition of the needs forpatent information this division is retained,

Patent professionals are the most frequent visitors topublic patent libraries (PPLs) and it appears that mostof them live (or have their work) in the vicinity of thepatent offices (ref. Survey of Readership in PublicPatent Libraries'). The needs of patent professionalsare on the whole the same as those of official searchersand so they are well served by the facilities of the patentoffices. They also benefit from any improvement as tothe means for novelty searching made by these in-stitutions . Sixty per cent of the visitors to the libranesof patent offices are patent professionals . whereas in the

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case of regional PPLs only 30% of the visitors arepatent professionals .

One of the major reasons why patent professionalsonly to a limited extent use the regional PPLs may bethat the holdings of patent documents are insufficientfor their purpose . Patent applications, recently madeavailable to the public, are of great interest to them,and the only way to get fast and reliable informationabout patent applications is to apply directly to thepatent offices.

It further appears that patent-oriented users spend asignificant time on patent literature and that theirnormal ways of approaching it are :

to go to their firm's patent department (40-60%),to go to other patent experts (25-30%) orto visit a patent library (10-20%).

They receive most of the patent literature in the form ofphotocopies .

It is clearly not this category of users who crowd thePPLs. They are quite well aware of their need forpatent information, but most of them use patentprofessionals as intermediaries between them and thePPLs. They are users of patent literature, but wantexperts to select the documents that deal with subjectsinteresting to them .

The term potential users is a loan from medicinemeaning : "those people who are capable of using orhave a latent need for patent information".

The number of potential users is much higher than thenumber of patent professionals and patent-orientedusers . In other words : only a minor part of those whomight benefit from patent information are users of thisinformation .

The question whether the majority of users in industryneed other sources of information than e.g ., fairs .seminars and text, bookss cannot he answered byinquiries because users of patent information willanswer in the affirmative and non-users do not know ofany need .

Chat there is a talent need for patent information isproved by the fact that the number of visitors to theService Section of the Danish Patent Office and to thePaientauslegestclle (Patent Information Centre) in

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Niirnberg has been doubled in a few years, simply bymaking industry aware of the services it might obtainfrom these institutions .

Potential users typically come from enterprises withless than 500 employees or in areas with a developingindustry, e .g. the Midi-Pyrenees in France, even fromenterprises which on average employ 40 persons i .e.from enterprises with no R & D departments . It is alesson learnt by the ARISTs' in France that, ifpotential users have to be changed into patent-orientedusers, PPLs must not be looked upon as self-containedsources of patent information but as parts of a morecomprehensive organization for industrial develop-ment, i .e. the use of patent information should be anatural part of the development of an industrialproduct, beginning with the suggestion of a productionand continuing with a study of the feasibility of and themeans for the production and ending with an esti-mation of the possible profit .

Documentation

A much-debated question is how extensive and com-plete a collection of patent documents must be to serveits purpose. Any enthusiastic documentalist wants hiscollection to be as complete and well-organized aspossible, whereas some heads of patent informationcentres attach more importance to information than todocumentation . The collection of documents pre-scribed in the PCT rules, the so-called PCT minimumdocumentation, constitutes what is considered nec-essary for making a reliable novelty search . In rela-tively large countries it is, however, generally agreedthat a collection of national patent documents willmeet most potential users' needs .

To make the collections of patent documents lessbulky, the patent offices reproduce the printed docu-ments on microforms, which are not only space-savingbut also cheaper than paper copies. However, none ofthe existing microforms are very popular with patentprofessionals - some examiners simply refuse to usethem because they feel it tiring to read a text projectedon a screen . 3

The use of EDP-technology as a means for storage andretrieval of information is commonplace today, butfurther development of this technology is necessarybefore it can substitute conventional methods ofinformation retrieval .

At present it seems impossible to suggest an organi-zation of a file of patent documents that will uncom-promisingly meet the requirements to an ideal sourceof information . The most direct access to the desiredinformation is obtained by arranging the documentsaccording to a classification system . e .g . the [PC. then

`Agences Regionale dlnlormanon Jaenwique ci techniqueiwhich in several cases hold collections of patent oocumeni, . eddrem . i

the only searching tool needed is a classification key .This organization of the file is however anything butspace-saving because there must be room for updatingeach individual group. Numerically ordered files takeup less space, but make it necessary to use a classinventory for the selection of documents belonging to acertain class.

A PPL should, of course, take the structure of localindustry into consideration when procuring referencebooks, periodicals, etc.. but its collection of patentdocuments must cover all technological areas . Theestablishment of specialized libraries should be left toprivate firms or branch associations .

The rapid development of technology necessitates arevision of the existing classification systems every fewyears. All patent offices have a backlog as to re-classification of the patent documents, which meansthat documents disclosing a certain matter are to befound in three or four classes according to their age .Whereas most patent professionals are content withthe IPC, this system does not meet the needs of otherusers of patent information . This is probably due to thefact that the IPC is developed for the purpose ofnovelty searching, i .e. to establish whether a tech-nology, known to the searcher, is new ; but the"normal" user simply does not know exactly what hewants to find .

Even if a file of classified . printed documents is not anideal source of information, it is still the best one andexisting ones ought to be retained and kept up to dateas long as available space allows it . However, whennew files are to be set up, it is wiser to choose aninformation carrier which takes up less space than hardcopies. Today, microfilm reels are the medium ofinformation storage that requires least space, but untilrecently it was unsuitable for proper novelty searchingdue to the long search time . This has changed with thenow existing "image terminals" i .e . computer-controlled readers for microfilm permitting fast re-trieval of frames selected by search codes .

The saving of space may be illustrated by the fact that10 million patent documents on microfilm and 10image terminals complete with display units will onlytake up a floorage of about 200 square metres orapproximately one tenth of a corresponding file of hardcopies .

Publicity Programmes

The importance of active work for promoting the use ofpatent information was stressed in the course tit mostof the interviews made for this study .

The means applied to draw the attention of the publicto the existence of the parent information centres are byand large as follows

Publication of handbooks and brochures on patents,etc. .

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telecasts and broadcasts,articles in newspapers and weekly magazines,lectures and courses,exhibitions,cooperation with local and national authorities .

Handbooks on patenting and guides for patent ap-plicants are published by all patent offices, but thesepublications are only read by patent professionals andpatent-oriented users .

All the large patent libraries, i .e. the SRL in Londonand the Patent Offices, take care to keep their clientsinformed as regards new acquisitions of patent docu-ments and other patent literature, and they further-more issue periodical publications on their activities .

Broadcasts and telecasts about patent information willnormally be linked up with reports on exhibitions, etc .Incidentally, many aspects of patent information,financial as well as political, may and should in fact bepopularized through the mass media . For example :How can the patent information centres be of use to theauthorities?

Technical weeklies should be invited to publish articleson patent information . As regards the newspapers thesame applies as in the case of telecasts and broadcasts :active participation in meetings and exhibitions willnearly automatically give access to the newspapercolumns .

Lectures and courses concerning patent informationare very seldom arranged by others than patentprofessionals. Therefore the information centres haveto take the initiative .

Patent information alone cannot form the basis of anexhibition, and even if it did, such an exhibition wouldhardly attract others than those who already knowabout and make use of patent information . On theother hand it might be a good idea to have a standready to put up on all local industrial exhibitions . If itis possible to find time and money for the arrangementof an exhibition of inventions as it has been done inLyon, it will give good publicity .

The importance of making the authorities aware of thehelp industry, especially growing industry, may obtainfrom patent literature has been strongly underlined . Itis important to work for a clear understanding of thefact that patent information is not an isolated phenom-enon, but an integral part of industrial development .

One of the more active patent information centres as topublic relations, the INPI branch at Lyon, participatesin all arrangements concerning industrial progress .People are told about the importance of patents, thepress is informed as often as possible, meetings arearranged in co-operation with patent agents, industryand the local administration . Such an activity requiresdynamics and enthusiasm, more than normal workinghours and snore than normal effort .

Location of The Patent InformationCentres

The purpose of making patent information available isto contribute to industrial development by com-munication of the technical knowledge embodied in thepatent literature, i.e. patent information centres shouldbe instrumental in giving access, directly or indirectly,to patent literature. Patent information centres mayroughly be divided into two categories : PPLs withcomprehensive collections of patent documents andcentres that function as patent departments for thesmall industries and act as intermediaries betweenthese industries and the large patent libraries-

A result of one of the investigations referred to abovewas that 80 to 90 % of all visitors to patent informationcentres come from the area within 50 kilometres fromthe centre . According to this result a nationwidenetwork of information centres presupposes the exis-tence of one information centre for every 2 500 squarekilometres in all industrialized areas . At present thereare areas with more patent information-centres thanthis minimum and other areas with no centre at all . Anationwide network of information centres equippedwith all the necessary facilities for information retrievalcannot be established at short notice without the costsbeing unduly high . Any user of patent information maysooner or later need a deep novelty search but thissearch need not necessarily be carried out on the spot .

It is possible, therefore, to offer a quite satisfactoryservice without having a large patent library at hand .In certain cases it may even be an advantage not to becharged with the administration of a big library . Henceit seems possible to establish a system of informationcentres at a cost which is not entirely disproportionateto the usefulness of such a system provided theequipment and activities of the centre are adapted tothe local circumstances.

The question of where and when to set up patentinformation centres of one (or both) of the abovequoted categories cannot be answered in general . It isquite clear, however, that in typical industrial areasthere is first and foremost a need for patent librarieswith document collections sufficient to make reliablenovelty searches possible . Whereas, in areas withgrowing industry or in areas where the Governmenttries to encourage industrialization the main stressmust be laid on the outreaching and advisory activities .

A collection of national patent documents may beuseful as a means of information on the "state of theart", more so for the staff than for the visitors . A large-scale patent library may therefore not be necessaryfrom the outset. It is possible to start with a few officerooms. an enthusiastic leader_ nne or two secretariesand an EDP terminal .

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Organization and Staffing of PatentInformation Centres

Layout and equipment of patent libraries are supposedto be wellknown so that a few general remarks aboutthis matter will suffice .

A complete collection of patent documents (PCT-minimum documentation) requires a shelving area of250-300 square metres . A collection of that size isdifficult to place in a reading room, but the part of thedocuments that rarely is used can be placed in anadjoining room. The traditional arrangement of cabi-nets in a reading room is shown in Fig . 1 .

As paper documents are replaced by aperture cards andmicrofilm, reading rooms get a different look becausecard or film readers and filing cabinets become moredominant ; see Fig . 2 which shows the reading room ofthe Octrooiraad .

It appears from this picture that the display unit hasmade its entry into the reading rooms. In the readingroom of the patent information centre in Nurnberg(Fig. 3) the reading equipment is placed in an adjoiningroom together with various copying apparatus . In thisroom it is possible to turn down the light to make thereading easier . Shelving systems for patent documentsare usually built in situ . The construction varies fromrather expensive shelved cabinets, as shown in Fig . 3, to

'.e iNPI branch ii . I': )

systems built up of sectional iron with shelves of sheetiron according to strictly technical aspects, such as theshelving system of INPI, Lyon . Fig . 4 .

Some shelving systems consist of cabinets running onrails in order to reduce the passage between thecabinets to a minimum. Figure 5 shows such a shelvingsystem used in the Danish Patent Office .

It is meaningless to compare the number of employeesat the patent offices, or at the SR L in London with thenumber of employees at the regional PPLs. The SRLhas a staff of 341 persons, in the Danish and the FrenchPatent Offices 20 to 25 persons are employed with theactual work of filing, and the library of the GermanPatent Office in Munchen employs 52 persons, 9 ofwhom are fully occupied with the insertion of thepreviously classified patent documents in the re-spective folders .

The average number of employees at the various"Patentauslegestellen" in Germany is one to twopersons per 1000 visitors per year . This may heconsidered the normal manpower requirements ofregional PPLs, but does not apply to patent infor-mation centres that offer a different kind of service, theARIST in Toulouse for instance, is located in an areawith a "young" industry and has a staff of 3 techno-logists, 2 documentalists and 2 secretaries and drawsup 600 analytical reports per year .

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Fig . 2 . The reading room oft he Octrooiraad in Rijswijk . The part of the room behind the librarian's desk is full of filing cabinets .To the right of the librarian's desk is placed a display unit with connection to the computer of the EPO .

I, c r,adme ream ri vie LOA in Nurnberg Parent Joxnmew, are stared rn hehed cabinet m,th tiding door,

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E. Chomsen

Fig. 4 . The construction of a shelving system . INPI Lyon .

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Final Remarks

It has not been possible to get exact information aboutthe costs of establishing a patent information centre .Rents vary greatly, in London, for instance, the annualrent will be about £10 per square foot or about 200EIJA" per square metre. Elsewhere it is perhapspossible to get premises at the half of this rent .

Expenses for the maintenance of equipment and updat-ing of the files will he of the magnitude of 400000 EUA .This amount is calculated from items of expenditurewhich may vary by more than 50% from one countryto another. It seems therefore not worthwhile to godeeper into this matter .

It is generally agreed that on-line services will becomean important part of patent information services . INPIin Paris has created a data bank on patent informationto which access may be obtained via Euronet. TheEPO in Rijswijk proposes to offer other patent officesaccess to its internal data bank, and the German PatentOffice is planning a data bank on patent information .

At first it is patent professionals who will benefit fromthese on-line services . However, it opens up thepossibility of establishing a system of patent infor-mation centres with the patent offices as the procurersof patent literature, one or more data banks main-tained by the patent offices in common, a few largePPLs with the facilities for the prompt delivery of

'European Units of Accountancy .

Patent Information and Documentation in Public Patent Libraries

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photocopies and finally a number of "satellite" infor-mation centres with on-line connection to the PPLsand the patent offices and placed in areas whereindustry needs them .

All this is not only a dream of the future. It is, however,urgent to exchange the printed documents with othermeans for the storing of information . Not even thebiggest PPLs are able to continue storing paperdocuments. Microforms are cheap and space-saving,but not well suited as a means for novelty searching."Computer assisted image processing" may have afuture, but may be difficult to use without on-lineaccess to searching indexes stored in data banks .

The complete report on the study was published by theCommission of the European Communities in spring19814.

References(11 B . Starkloff, W . Hesse and 1 . Paul, Investigation of the Present

and Future Use of Patent Literature . CPC Directorate GeneralInformation Market and Innovation . EUR 5952 EN, Luxem-bourg. 1978.

(21 11, Bank, Survey of Readership in Public Parent Libraries CECDirectorate General Information Market and Innovation .EUR 5831 e. Luxembourg, 1977 .

(31 D . lohnstone et al, : Microform usage in the Canadian PatentOffice, World Parent Information 2, 21-22 : 1980

(4) E Thomsen, Parameters for the Establishment or Extension ofRegional, Public Patent Information and DocumentationCentres. CEC Directorate General Information Market andInnovation, Luxembourg, 1981 .