ANN ARBOR, Mich., June 23, 2003 - ProQuest Company's Information and Learning unit announced an agreement with CanWest Interactive Inc. that will bring the full text of 21 Canadian daily newspapers to the company's ProQuest® online databases, including the ProQuest Canadian Newsstand products and select titles included in the eLibrary Canada/bigchalk Library Canada suite of K-12 products. The agreement allows ProQuest to distribute the newspaper content electronically to educational institutions, libraries, and other markets around the world.

“The addition of these highly desirable titles really expands the regional coverage we have in Eastern and Western Canada.  The new papers bring even more rich content to researchers and scholars who use Canadian Newsstand. And K-12 educators and students gain valuable additional resources as well, through our eLibrary Canada and bigchalk Library Canada,” said Stephen Abram, vice president, corporate development, for Micromedia ProQuest in Toronto.

The new group of titles includes exclusive rights to distribute 10 Hollinger Canadian Newspapers, and non-exclusive rights to distribute 10 GTC Transcontinental papers and the independent Whitehorse Star for a total of 21 new titles in Micromedia ProQuest databases. Key titles include:  St John’s Telegram, Halifax Daily News, Charlottetown Guardian, Prince Rupert Daily News, Prince George Citizen, and Whitehorse Star, based in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.

The agreement includes all available electronic backfiles with a one-week embargo on content. All of the newspapers will be available by subscription in Canadian Newsstand in three packages: as packaged subsets, major dailies packages, and a complete package, or as individual titles. Content will be available once the data load is complete.

ProQuest customers can sign up for the ProQuest specialized email notification lists at: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/site/forms/mailinglist.shtml to receive notification when new content is added.

About CanWest Interactive Inc.

CanWest Global Communications Corp. (NYSE: CWG; TSE: CGS.S and CGS.A; (www.canwestglobal.com) is an international media company. CanWest, Canada’s largest publisher of daily newspapers, owns, operates and/or holds substantial interests in newspapers, conventional television, out-of-home advertising, specialty cable channels and radio networks in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The Company’s program production and distribution division and interactive media division operate in several countries throughout the world.

 

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.