Cambridge, United Kingdom, June 10, 2009 - ProQuest is pleased to announce an on-stand charity to help provide Donkey-Drawn Libraries for schools in Somalia, Sudan and Uganda. Please visit ProQuest’s stand number 335 to learn more. Participants will be entered into a prize-draw to win an Apple iPod Nano. ProQuest invites delegates of The Library Show to give generously to this important cause.

Somalia, Sudan and Uganda are all former war zones and are understandably short of books.  Each Donkey-Drawn trunk is made of steel to repel rats and termites.  Padlocks are used to protect the valuable contents – around 100 volumes of fiction, non-fiction and reference books.  These mobile libraries are constantly on the move, drawn by donkey or bicycle cart and taken to schools in each of these regions.  As the supply is refreshed every month, children have a constant supply of a variety of books.

ProQuest's drive for libraries in Africa takes its spirit from two major initiatives being undertaken by the United Nations.  These include the "UNESCO Education for All" initiative aiming to meet the learning needs of all children, youth and adults by 2015, and the "United Nations Literacy Decade".  We have also taken our cue from the important work undertaken by International Federation of Library Associations in 2007 for literacy in Africa.  Your contribution at stand number 335 will help meet these crucial goals.

Representatives of public libraries are also invited to visit the stand on Wednesday, 10th June at 10.45am for a presentation on The Annual Register and the cutting of the cake to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the publication of The Annual Register. The Annual Register: A Record of World Events has been published every year since 1758. The Annual Register is a valuable source of contemporary opinion, historical context and biographical information for the historian.  ProQuest is offering public libraries a year’s free access to the Annual Register Online from 1 July 2009 – 30 June 2010.

For further ProQuest activities at The Library Show, please see below.

The 250th Anniversary of the Annual Register Celebration.
When: Wednesday 10th June
Where: Stand 335
Time: 10.45am
Rob Newman, Senior Publishing Editor, ProQuest will give a short presentation on the Annual Register, and the cake will be cut by Mark Furneaux, Director of Lestac Services Ltd. who sits on the Annual Register Advisory Board

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Product Update Events:
Wednesday 10th June
10.45 – 250th Anniversary of the Annual Register
14.00 – Know UK/News UK Update
15.00 – Historical Newspapers Update
16.00 – Safari Update

Thursday 11th June
10.00 – Ancestry Library Edition Update
11.00 – Safari Update
14.00 – Historical Newspapers Update
15.00 – 250th Anniversary of the Annual Register
16.00 – Know UK/News UK Update

Event: From local history to the latest technology: case studies in use of electronic resources in public libraries
Where: Technology Theatre
When: Thursday 11th June
Time: 11.40-12noon
Dan Dyer, Head of Sales for UK &Ireland will be presenting.

Join us back on Stand 335 for a ‘Lunch and Learn’ from 12 noon, for all delegates. We look forward to seeing you there!

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.cambridgeinformationgroup.com.