JISC Collections partners with ProQuest to make another century of House of Commons Parliamentary Papers freely available to universities and colleges in the UK
ProQuest's digital House of Commons Parliamentary Papers 1901-2004 will be available free of charge to all staff and students in colleges and universities in the UK through funding from JISC Collections. The online resource, comprising 187,809 individual papers containing over 9.5 million pages, is among the richest and most detailed primary sources for the history of the 20th century and is considered vital to an understanding of the UK's modern development. This agreement extends the partnership between JISC Collections and ProQuest, which began in 2006, to make the 19th century House of Commons Parliamentary Papers available to the UK academic community.
"This agreement further demonstrates ProQuest's commitment to education and accelerating the connection between people and meaningful research," said Mary Sauer-Games, Vice President, Chadwyck-Healey publishing. "We are pleased to extend our partnership with JISC Collections to help fulfil its goal of creating an information environment where irrespective of location, users can discover and access resources of interest and incorporate them into research and learning."
"Researchers and students across many subject areas will find this resource immensely useful" says Lorraine Estelle, CEO of JISC Collections. "Indeed, academics have told us that it is essential for the study of social, economic and political affairs. 20th century House of Commons Parliamentary Papers will be of particular value to those institutions with limited physical access to the original resources. Combined with the ability to cross search with the 18th century and 19th century House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, this resource may well enable research that would otherwise be laborious if not impossible. JISC Collections is pleased to have worked with ProQuest to provide this resource to our community."
The content made available in this agreement covers a period that saw such events as wars in the Falkland Islands and Iraq, the return of Hong Kong to China, the formation of the European Union and end of apartheid in South Africa. Users can trace the progress of arms control and energy conservation and find materials relating to topics ranging from AIDs to the independence of Zimbabwe.
The House of Commons Parliamentary Papers is a comprehensive collection, including all of the papers issued by the House of Commons after 1801, in all formats: Bills, Reports of Committees, Reports of Commissioners, Accounts and Papers and Command Papers (included within the Reports of Commissioners and Accounts and Papers). The Parliamentary Papers influenced public opinion and social and political philosophy, and provided a forum for ideas for hundreds of thinkers, among them Marconi, Keynes, and Beveridge. They are the working documents of government for all areas of social, political, economic and foreign policy, showing how issues were explored and legislation was formed. ProQuest offers three Parliamentary Papers collections covering more than three centuries in digital form (1688-2004) - fully integrated with authoritative indexing.
ProQuest's partnership with JISC Collections to provide the 20th century House of Commons Parliamentary Papers is part of ProQuest's ongoing initiative to expand access to the world's most significant research collections, and builds upon earlier agreements to provide the 19th century House of Commons Parliamentary Papers and Eighteenth Century Parliamentary Papers, which includes content from 1688-1834.
For more information about the 20th century House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, including how to access this resource, can be found at http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/20thcpp.
About ProQuest
ProQuest creates specialized information resources and technologies that propel successful research, discovery, and lifelong learning. A global leader in serving libraries of all types, ProQuest offers the expertise of such respected brands as Chadwyck-Healey™, UMI®, SIRS®, and eLibrary®. With Serials Solutions®, Ulrich's™, RefWorks®, COS™, Dialog® and now Bowker® part of the ProQuest brand family, the company supports the breadth of the information community with innovative discovery solutions that power the business of books and the best in research experience.
More than a content provider or aggregator, ProQuest is an information partner, creating indispensable research solutions that connect people and information. Through innovative, user-centered discovery technology, ProQuest offers billions of pages of global content that includes historical newspapers, dissertations, and uniquely relevant resources for researchers of any age and sophistication—including content not likely to be digitized by others. Inspired by its customers and their end users, ProQuest is working toward a future that blends information accessibility with community to further enhance learning and encourage lifelong enrichment.
For more information, visit www.proquest.com or the ProQuest parent company website, www.cig.com.