ProQuest’s Next-Generation eLibrary® Platform Tackles Common Research Barriers
ProQuest has launched a revolutionary change to the <i>eLibrary®</i> research database, a recognized leader in delivering multimedia and digital full-text content in an engaging, user-centric interface. Available now, the new <i>eLibrary</i> is the first information-industry database to help a researcher engage immediately with a topic by offering editorially selected results that jump-start the research process. The next-generation <i>eLibrary</i> also integrates features familiar from Web search engines, customized in-product Web applications, media-rich content and Web 2.0 interactivity.
“What makes ProQuest a technology leader is our ability to combine the right content with the right tools,” said Barb Beach, vice president of publishing for ProQuest. “The launch of the new eLibrary is a great indicator of where we’re headed – we’re listening to the needs of Millennials and the institutions that serve them to build products that fit new and emerging online search behaviors.”
Two key features of the new eLibrary include “Smart Content” and “Content Creators.” Smart Content combines eLibrary’s 65 million documents with editorially-prepared content. This means what users need first, they see first. Our editors bring best-of material “above the fold” to provide comprehensive, foundational understanding of the topic as well as pathways for further exploration. For most-queried and most-studied topics searched, results sets will display a “smart page” that provides biographical, historical, and other contextual information, in addition to eLibrary editors’ top document and multimedia picks.
“Content Creators” are in-product Web applications that enable use of eLibrary content in all new, custom applications, such as timelines, that allow users to create and publish in a safe online environment. These user-created pieces can be saved on eLibrary for presentation or further collaboration and added to personal “My eLibrary”™ pages that capture and tag user favorites. These new Web tools promote mash-ups, collaboration, and help strengthen 21st century information skills.
Ms. Beach noted that the new eLibrary is designed to be the ultimate resource for digital full-text and multimedia. “It combines remarkable content with innovative technologies that deliver next-generation search features, online applications and personalization tools, video and interactive content, and more,” she said. In fact, collections include full-text from more than 2,100 periodical, news, and e-book sources; more than 3 million pictures, maps, websites, and audio and video files; and custom study units, quiz generator, and curriculum support tools.
For more information, visit www.proquestk12.com. Screen captures of the new platform are available upon request.
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.