CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, July 19, 2004 - ProQuest Information and Learning has released the latest version of the award-winning ProQuest® online information service.

ProQuest Information and Learning, a unit of ProQuest Company, creates and publishes databases for libraries and educational institutions worldwide.

Many new features are included in the release: ProQuest® Smart Search will analyse a user's search, then offer suggestions for related topics and publications at the top of the results screen; e nhanced email capabilities allow users to track their results as well as share them with colleagues and advanced browsing gives better access to non-periodical content.

ProQuest® Smart Search taps into ProQuest's powerful indexing to supercharge results, analysing a user's search, and then offering suggestions for related topics and publications at the top of the results screen. It uses a variety of techniques to map a user's search terms to relevant items in ProQuest's controlled vocabulary. These techniques analyse index term occurrence patterns, as well as comparing a user's current search against previously run searches.

"ProQuest ® Smart Search engages our extensive controlled vocabulary, enabling users to navigate quickly to the most relevant articles. It's especially valuable for less-experienced researchers, users who are not savvy about the subject thesaurus or constructing Boolean queries. It also provides greater transparency of content in the databases being searched so more experienced researchers can refine their search strategy as they go,” said John Law, director, product management - ProQuest platform.

The same technology enables users to browse topics in most ProQuest databases. Users can browse through subjects, companies, people, and geographic locations selecting and narrowing terms to find relevant articles in an expanded number of ProQuest databases. New browsing capabilities provide enhanced access to non-periodical content, which has become a mainstay in today's research environment.

Users can browse through complete report sets from the following collections by accessing through Publication Search and from the database selection screen:

• EIU ViewsWires
• Hoover's Company Profiles
• More coming soon

Email enchancements include:

• Multiple articles in a single email
• Brief citations with links back to an article in ProQuest
• Full text of articles in ASCII or PDF format
• Email My Research Summary, a highly refined version of a marked list
• Email formatted bibliographies in a choice of formats
• Email translated articles, i.e. articles that the user selected for machine translation to Spanish or Portuguese, also a ProQuest feature
• Citation information is embedded in every PDF both on screen and when emailed

Users will enjoy extended browsing and index searching for more databases, thanks to the new infrastructure of ProQuest® Smart Search. The tools are available on proprietary ProQuest products, making it easy for users to construct queries and narrow research topics using ProQuest's renowned controlled vocabularies. The new release also adds enhanced ProQuest CrossLinks™, allowing users to link seamlessly from their results list into a link-resolver service and view the full-text of the article from wherever it may be found in the library's holdings or in external holdings the library may be able to access. ProQuest CrossLinks™ supports the use of a static URL to access resources or it can dynamically create URLs based on article-level information.

A “What's New” link on the main search page provides information on interface enhancements coming to the product, as well as links to documentation, screen shots, and feature previews. A demonstration of the new interface, and complete descriptions and guides for its many features, are available on the ProQuest website: Find out more: ProQuest Platform Enhancements.

Libraries may receive more information by emailing marketing@proquest.co.uk

For all media enquiries contact Gina Ghensi, Communications Manager, gina.ghensi@proquest.co.uk

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.