National Inventors Month

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National Inventors' Month poster
National Inventors Month was started in 1998 by the United Inventors Association of the USA (UIA-USA), the Academy of Applied Science, and Inventors’ Digest magazine to celebrate invention and creativity. “We want to recognize those talented, brave individuals who dare to be blatantly creative, and therefore different, and whose accomplishments affect every facet of our lives,” says Joanne Hayes-Rines, editor of Inventors’ Digest.

Library Programming

Belle Isle Library in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, presented “Aha! Finding Great Ideas.” Lynn Baker, a professor at the Department of Human Relations at OU, brought his more than twenty years experience in the field of performance improvement to help participants generate fruitful ideas for themselves and for their organization … techniques they will never forget. Handouts from the Oklahoma Inventors Congress were available.

Teaching Resources

  • Crayola offers a number of lesson plans as well as coloring pages, crafts, and ecards kids can use.
  • Teachervision includes plenty of hands-on science activities to encourage creativity and engage students of all ages in learning as well as art activities, puzzles, and timelines.

Other Resources

  • The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County offers an extensive list of resources that would be quite helpful in putting together programming for adult inventors, including general marketing and business; research directories and databases; patent searching and intellectual property; assessment and evaluation services, including fraud prevention; and helpful organizations, tradeshows, and inventors councils.
  • In addition, the following libraries provide useful links, bibliographies, and more: