ANN ARBOR, Mich., October 7, 2003 - Caldwell College has retained ProQuest Information and Learning to preserve its academic research heritage through a new program to create a digital archive of its master's theses. The Catholic liberal arts college is located in Caldwell, New Jersey. ProQuest Information and Learning will provide publishing services for Caldwell's advanced-degree programs through its UMI Dissertation Digital Archiving and Access program. ProQuest Information and Learning, a unit of ProQuest Company, creates and distributes databases for libraries and educational institutions worldwide.

Caldwell College is the first educational institution in New Jersey to create a digital archive of its own research. Caldwell has shipped copies of 157 master's theses dating from 1993 (the year Caldwell's graduate programs debuted) to Ann Arbor for filming and digitizing. When complete, its archive will be a comprehensive record of its graduate programs to the present day.

The UMI Dissertation Digital Archiving and Access program is a comprehensive service providing an institution's library with a permanent, accessible, and complete record of its doctoral dissertations and master's theses on microfilm or fiche. Microform has many archival advantages over paper. Paper copies may be vulnerable to theft, fire and decay. Limited paper copies are not easily accessible, and they may be checked out of the library and not returned. They also consume valuable shelf space in the library. Once filmed, the material is digitized, creating both an archival record and a web-accessible version of the resources.

"We chose to digitize the material because we want to expand use. People weren't accessing it in a traditional way, in print. We wanted to provide Web access internally for our faculty and staff, and for people outside the college as well, in a different format," said Lynn Randall, executive director of the Jennings Library at Caldwell College. "Caldwell's primary focus is on the teaching/learning process. We teach research and evaluation skills, the backbone of what a student needs to know to do research."

Preserving and providing wide access to an institution's dissertations and theses is an important way to showcase its research and academic history. It also provides valuable study tools for students and researchers. ProQuest has more than 60 years of experience in scholarship preservation around the world. ProQuest's dissertation database includes abstracts and citations for 2 million dissertations from more than 1,000 institutions with North American coverage dating to 1861.

ProQuest maintains and preserves its collection of nearly 1.7 million full-text dissertations on microfilm and microfiche stored in separate temperature and humidity controlled vaults. More than 700 institutions regularly submit dissertations to ProQuest, including 99% of all schools in North America with doctoral programs requiring dissertations. ProQuest is the only designated digital archive for the Library of Congress for dissertations. It's the first time the Library of Congress has recognized an external site as an official national repository for a key collection.

Other libraries and educational institutions may receive more information on a similar program by contacting their account representative at 1-800-521-0600, ext. 2793 (outside the U.S., call 734-761-4700, ext. 2793) or umisalesinfo@il.proquest.com. Editors may call 1-800-521-0600, ext. 6489 or email pr@il.proquest.com.

 

About Caldwell College 

Caldwell College is a Catholic, co-educational, four-year liberal arts institution committed to intellectual rigor, individual attention, and the ethical values of the Judeo-Christian academic tradition. Founded in 1939 by the Sisters of Saint Dominic, the college boasts a 70-acre wooded campus in Caldwell, New Jersey. Caldwell's expanding graduate division now offers the Master of Arts and the Master of Science in six distinct disciplines, three Post Master of Arts programs, two Post Baccalaureate Teacher Certificate programs and a new MBA program. The College's graduate division has seen a significant increase in enrollment since 1993 when it offered its first graduate program, the Master of Arts in Curriculum and Instruction. That program began with thirteen students. Today, more than 2,200 undergraduate and 380 graduate students attend Caldwell College.

 

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.