ANN ARBOR, Mich., January 26, 2005 - Serials Solutions, the leading provider of e-journal access and management services, will unveil Central Search, a full-featured federated search engine, at the Ontario Library Association Conference in Toronto, Jan. 15-21. Attending librarians will have an opportunity to view and test the new application.

Central Search extends Serials Solutions’ suite of offerings of e-serials access and management tools and services. Central Search allows patrons and librarians to search disparate digital resources from a single, easy-to-use interface, accelerating patrons’ introduction and access to the richness of their libraries’ collections.

In development for over a year, Central Search boasts many essential features, including de-duplication of results, flexible results sorting, dynamic status indicators, a customizable user interface, and much more. Through a strategic partnership with WebFeat, Central Search software is able to connect to databases using WebFeat translator technology and technology developed by Serials Solutions. This delivers industry-leading coverage, including virtually all of a library’s full-text databases, abstract and index databases, and local catalogs.

Central Search is fully integrated with Serials Solutions’ entire portfolio of services. For librarians, this delivers the ability to manage more resources in less time. Central Search leverages Serials Solutions’ industry-leading knowledgebase, eliminating duplicate data management work. Central Search employs hardware and software hosted on Serials Solutions’ servers, eliminating complex IT tasks; and it provides comprehensive usage statistics, delivering critical information for complex acquisition decisions.

For patrons, Central Search’s seamless integration with other access tools, including Serials Solutions’ E-Journal A.M.S., Full MARC Records service, and Article Linker, delivers comprehensive access to a library’s resources. Working in together, these tools and services help patrons quickly and easily use all the resources available at their library.

“We have always been responsive to our client’s needs and many of our client libraries have been asking us to provide this functionality. After more than a year of development, we’re excited to release this new service to librarians,” said Steve McCracken, co-founder and vice president of Serials Solutions. “Based on feedback from beta testers and other early reviewers, we believe Central Search will more than meet the needs of libraries for a quality federated search engine.”

JR Jenkins, Central Search product manager, added “We believe that the combination of important features, breadth of coverage, and ease of use and maintenance, deliver a win-win for librarians and their patrons.”

About WebFeat
WebFeat (U.S. patent #6,807,539) is the developer of the WEBFEAT PRISM^TM federated search engine, used by over 1,500 leading public, academic, government and Global 1000 libraries and information centers—including over half of the top 20 largest U.S. public libraries and one out of every 10 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) institutions.

WebFeat’s latest release, WebFeat 3, offers a suite of next-generation federated search tools: PRISM, the SMART^TM COUNTER-compliant usage tracker, and MyWebFeat^TM  personalized federated search system. Originally founded in 1992 as an information technology consultancy, WebFeat has earned industry recognition from leading organizations such as Library Journal and the Gartner Group. Learn more about WebFeat at www.webfeat.org.

About Serials Solutions
Serials Solutions, part of ProQuest Information and Learning, provides complete e-journal access services to over 1200 libraries worldwide. Founded by a librarian for librarians, Serials Solutions helps librarians and patrons find and use electronic content through its E-Journal Access & Management Suite, Full MARC Records service for e-journals, Article Linker^TM  – Serials Solutions' comprehensive OpenURL link resolver. For more information, please visit www.serialssolutions.com or call 1-866 SERIALS.

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.