"These new capabilities further cement our position as the leading source for access to quality indexing and full-text content," said Todd Fegan, Vice President for Product Management at ProQuest Information and Learning. "Researchers can move efficiently from citations in one source to text in another and back again, all within a single interface. They get the documents they want in a fraction of the time, and the process is virtually transparent to the end user."

The OpenURL architecture at the core of ProQuest's initiatives supports linking from ProQuest to other resources and vice versa. "This is a giant step toward giving librarians an electronic collection that’s fully integrated, regardless of source," said Fegan.

The recently implemented ProQuest CrossLinks^TM Local Holdings Administrator feature gives libraries a convenient way to set up and maintain links from ProQuest holdings to their other full-text resources. Pre-defined links are provided for a number of resources, while libraries can create custom pre-defined links to their other holdings. 

ProQuest also supports outbound links to OCLC-WorldCat, services such as SFX, and library OPACs. Support for OCLC-ILL Services and Infotrieve Document Delivery Service is scheduled for implementation in the near future.

ProQuest also supports linking to the full-text content in ProQuest databases from other linking resolvers, either through the MARC records in the library's OPAC, or via ProQuest's proprietary Durable Links^TM, created with ProQuest SiteBuilder^TM's technical toolkit.

ProQuest supports inbound linking from resolvers such as SFX, 1Cat Plus, LinkFinderPlus, and (soon) WebBridge.

ProQuest is an active member of the NISO AX committee defining the industry-wide OpenURL standard, designed to automate link management and ensure link integrity. ProQuest's linking capabilities are predicated on the latest OpenURL standards as they evolve for easy, compatible linking with libraries' electronic acquisitions.

OpenURL is a continuation of ProQuest's ongoing commitment to link integrity across library assets. For example, ProQuest also pioneered durable linking with its proprietary SiteBuilder^TM feature in 1998.

ProQuest Company (NYSE: PQE) is based in Ann Arbor, Mich., and is a leading provider of value-added information and content to the library, education, automotive and powersports industries. We provide products and services to our customers through two business segments: Information & Learning and Business Solutions. Through our Information & Learning segment, which primarily serves the library and education markets, we aggregate and publish value-added content from a wide range of sources including newspapers, periodicals and books. Our ProQuest Business Solutions Unit is primarily engaged in the delivery in electronic form of comprehensive parts information to the automotive market. It also provides dealers in the powersports (motorcycle, marine and RV) markets with management systems that enable them to manage their inventory, customer service and other aspects of their businesses.

ProQuest Information and Learning is a world leader in collecting, organizing, and distributing information worldwide to researchers, faculty, and students in libraries and schools. Known widely for its strength in business and economics, general-reference, humanities, social sciences, and STM content, the company develops premium databases comprising periodicals, newspapers, dissertations, out-of-print books, and other scholarly information from more than 8,500 publishers worldwide. Users access the information through ProQuest®, the company’s Web-based online information system, Chadwyck-Healey^TM electronic and microform resources, and UMI® microform and print reference products. For more information about ProQuest Information and Learning, visit www.il.proquest.com.

ProQuest offers libraries pre-defined links from ProQuest citations direct to the full text in the e-journal subscriptions they maintain with these services:

• SwetsWise (over 800 journals)
• Ingenta (over 700 journals)
• Ingenta Select (over 700 journals)
• CrossRef (over 600 journals)
• OCLC ECO (over 700 journals)

(Available to libraries with active subscriptions to both ProQuest and the e-journals.)

"Everyone wins with this arrangement," said Fegan. "Librarians get an easy way to implement links, ProQuest's focused indexing and friendly interface help users pinpoint articles of interest, and researchers get seamless access to the latest full text—even where the publisher maintains an embargo or other license restriction."

Where libraries maintain the relevant e-journal subscriptions, the e-journal partnerships bring the full-text component of some ProQuest databases, such as ABI/INFORM®, close to 100 percent.