CURRENT POSITION Head of Business Insight Center/Digital Equity Initiative, Rochester Public Library, NY DEGREE MLS, University at Buffalo, 1998 FAST FACT Byrnes used to be a standup comedian. FOLLOW linkedin.com/in/jen-byrnes-33b7a272 Photo by Cynthia Fay Photography

Cannabis-ness Czar

Do you know what an occupant-propelled land vehicle is? Or a horological device with avian features? Jen Byrnes, Head of Business Insight Center/ Digital Equity Initiative at Rochester Public Library, NY, does: They’re the patent terms for a bicycle and a cuckoo clock, respectively. 

Among myriad other services, she and her team conduct patent searches for local businesses, which involve using specialist language. “We started it with an ‘If you build it, they will come’ mentality,” says Byrnes. “We are the only resource that is always free and confidential. A lot of organizations can’t help these businesses because of federal regulations.” The Business Insight Center visits local firms, business incubators, and accelerators to save them time and money—e.g., by preventing them from paying for reports that the library has and from applying for the wrong licenses. Byrnes says that a frequent response is, “Wow, you can do that?” 

Byrnes, a former stand-up comedian, explains that her job has also led to her becoming “an accidental cannabis czar.” When the state made recreational cannabis sales legal, some local businesspeople—especially those with previous cannabis sales convictions—needed help exercising their new right to sell. Byrnes tells them, “You are masters of supply, demand, and distribution, but not of paperwork.” The Center helps with navigating regulations and with the related “incessant lawsuits,” retaining lawyers that can help, and offering a workforce training program called “Get Weeding.” Byrnes admits, “I was afraid no one would take it, but 70 people showed up to the first class.”