ProQuest Celebrates the 70th Anniversary of UMI
"ProQuest has played a very important leadership role in scholarship and as a library partner for 70 years, starting with UMI," said Boe Horton, senior vice president of research solutions for ProQuest. "Eugene Power's vision of using UMI to preserve and makes content accessible globally is similar to the mandate of today's online publishers. Power used the best technology of his time to provide worldwide access to information, just as ProQuest does today. In an increasingly digital world, microform is still working as a functional and enduring archival medium. At ALA Midwinter, we will celebrate our ongoing collaboration with libraries in connecting people to the information they need."
Long before the first computer, and decades before the first PC, floppy disc, or wiki, UMI worked to make content accessible to researchers around the world. Even today, microform remains a perfect way to capture content and make it accessible around the world - especially for more specialized research needs. In fact, many of ProQuest's key products would not exist without content originally preserved in film, such as: The New York Times and other ProQuest Historical Newspapers, Early English Books Online™, ProQuest Civil War Era, American Periodical Series Online™, Historical Annual Reports, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, and the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers.
ProQuest and UMI continue to pioneer - increasing access to titles, and eliminating the typical need experienced by publishers either to print hundreds of copies or not to publish at all. With the "view on demand" opportunity provided by microfilm from UMI, libraries can make rare titles available to their researchers even if they are out of print. Through UMI, ProQuest is working to ensure that content is available for generations of patrons to come.
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.