ProQuest
| ProQuest, LLC | |
|---|---|
| legal form | LLC |
| founding | 1938 |
| Seat |
Ann Arbor , Michigan ,
|
| management | Andy Snyder ( Chairman ), Matti Shem Tov ( CEO ) |
| Branch | Information economy |
| Website | www.proquest.com |
The ProQuest Company is an American host from Ann Arbor , Michigan who specializes in microform and web publishing . ProQuest offers its subscribers around 9,000 titles from the past 500 years. Most of North American universities publish their dissertations at UMI, a division of the company.
history
In 1938, Eugene Power founded the company as University Microfilms and archived documents from the British Museum on microfilm . Powers recognized a niche market in the publication of dissertations on microfilm, which was cheaper for students than a print publication (cf. electronic dissertation ). As this market grew, the company began filming newspapers and other periodicals . ProQuest publishes so many dissertations that its collection of digital dissertations was declared the official repository of the Library of Congress in 1999.
In his autobiography Edition of one , Power reports on the development of the company. B. How University Microfilms worked with the forerunner of the CIA , the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. Most of the work consisted of filming maps and European newspapers so that they could be transported across the sea more cheaply and inconspicuously.
In 1967 the company was bought by Xerox and then in 1985 by Bell & Howell . The name of the company changed several times at this time: From University Microfilms to Xerox University Microfilms , to University Microfilms International , or UMI for short . In the 1980s, UMI began producing CD-ROMs of bibliographic databases with abstracts and indexes from various journals and later offered online subscriptions to these databases. In the 1990s, microfilm media seemed unable to compete with the new electronic media available. The company tried to survive by pushing its e-commerce access to online versions of current periodicals, mainly with schools, universities and libraries. In 1995, UMI made selected databases available online free of charge, which marked the beginning of ProQuest.
In 2001 Bell & Howell changed its name from ProQuest to ProQuest Company due to the popularity and the UMI department changed the name from Bell & Howell Information and Learning (since 1999) to ProQuest Information and Learning in 2001 .
In 2004 ProQuest acquired the start-up company Serial Solutions , which offered access management and search services for content from other companies. At the end of 2006, the Cambridge Information Group took over ProQuest and merged it with the in-house Cambridge Scientific Abstracts to form ProQuest CSA .
In the middle of 2008 ProQuest took over the host dialog from Thomson Reuters .
At the beginning of 2011, ProQuest took over the e-book provider Ebrary, and in 2015 the world market leader in library software and services Ex Libris . The purchase price is estimated at around US $ 500 million.
In 2019, the private investment fund Atairos acquired a minority stake in ProQuest.
offer
ProQuest offers the following databases, among others:
ProQuest is also developing the link resolver 360 Link.
Competitors of the company are for example EBSCO Publishing , LexisNexis and Ovid Technologies .
literature
- Eugene B. Power: Edition of One. The Autobiography of Eugene B. Power, Founder of University Microfilms. 1990, ISBN 0-8357-0898-5 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ leadership
- ^ "ProQuest: Chronicle of Leadership", umi.com, about us ( Memento from February 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Library of Congress and Copyright Office Sign Landmark Agreement with UMI , loc.gov, January 22, 1999.
- ↑ Serial Solutions
- ^ Cambridge Information Group
- ↑ ProQuest Signs Agreement To Acquire Dialog Business From Thomson Reuters , press release, June 12, 2008.
- ↑ ProQuest Acquires Dialog , ProQuest, press release, July 1, 2008.
- ↑ ProQuest Acquires ebrary , ProQuest, press release, January 6, 2011.
- ↑ ProQuest and Ex Libris Join to Accelerate Innovation for Libraries Worldwide ProQuest, press release, October 6, 2015.
- ^ ProQuest to Buy Library Software Firm Ex Libris for an Estimated $ 500m. Haaretz from October 7, 2015.
- ↑ "Private Investment Firm Atairos is Acquiring an Ownership Position in ProQuest, Cambridge Information Group Will Remain Majority Owner" , May 17, 2019.