CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, August 11, 2004 - ProQuest Information and Learning has licensed information from the Scholar Universe™ collection of Authority Profiles™ for the ABI/INFORM business database suite. Authority Profiles will expand research possibilities by seamlessly linking the user to hard-to-find vital information about the author.

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

Scholar Universe, a business unit of ContentScan, Inc, is a leading provider of community profile content covering universities and their faculties. The Scholar Universe service contains a broad range of author, researcher, and faculty profile information. ProQuest has licensed a customised subset of Scholar Universe’s profiles that complements ABI/INFORM's author community.

"By adding Scholar Universe's researcher and institutional profiles, ProQuest can offer our customers greater depth in their research. The profiles will provide more context for the important journal and non-periodical content in ABI/INFORM, as well as increased confidence and accuracy in author searches for our users,” said Suzanne BeDell, vice president, higher education publishing, ProQuest.

With the new agreement, Scholar Universe will provide customised Authority Profile content, document linking, and community search. ProQuest will provide citation information for Scholar Universe to integrate with the Authority Profiles.

"We're pleased that our Authority Profiles covering top business school faculty members and management researchers will be available through ProQuest. Our verified links between authors and their publications will provide users with new pathways to the relevant content available within ABI/INFORM,” said Samir Singh, president of ContentScan.

The program will launch with approximately 40,000 author profiles and 3,000 institutional profiles.  Author profiles typically contain name, affiliation, most current contact information, personal web page, research interests, and publications list (may include dissertations.) Institution profiles include universities and their schools or business, and departments, such as economics, political science, law, and public affairs. Institutional profiles generally include name, address, web page and email address.

ProQuest customers can sign up for the ProQuest specialised email notification lists at: www.proquest.co.uk/enews to receive notification when the new content is added.

Free trials of ABI/INFORM databases are available. 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.