ANN ARBOR, Mich., November 8, 2004 - ProQuest Information and Learning and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution announced a partnership that will bring premium historical content to academic institutions and libraries, public libraries, primary and secondary schools, and government and corporate libraries. In the first release, historical news content from The Atlanta Constitution will be available online from its first published edition in 1868 through 1925. ProQuest Information and Learning, a unit of ProQuest Company, creates and publishes databases for libraries and educational institutions worldwide.

With this digitization effort for The Atlanta Constitution, the deepest archive from the publisher will be digitally accessible for researchers throughout the library and education markets.  Initially, ProQuest will digitize content from 1868 to 1925. In each subsequent year of the agreement, another three years of content will be added.  The newspaper publisher will retain rights to distribute the historical content to the consumer market. 

“As the seventh major newspaper to be part of our landmark ProQuest Historical Newspapers^TM  project, The Atlanta Constitution will provide a unique perspective of history from a major Southern U.S. city,” said Ron Klausner, president, ProQuest Information and Learning.  “The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a reputation for excellence and a shared history from two independent journalistic voices, The Atlanta Constitution and Atlanta Journal, which merged in 2001.

“We are particularly pleased with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s decision to participate in this partnership.  Its participation will accelerate the pace at which the historical content can be digitized.  In addition, it will have an instant archive of historical material for its own use, as well as to distribute to the consumer market.  It is a mutually beneficial agreement, and we are eager to move forward using this new model.”

“The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is very happy to partner with ProQuest in digitizing our microfilm archives and making those archives searchable.  ProQuest’s expertise in this arena is unparalleled and we look forward to working with them to make this rich resource available in the library and education markets,” said Virginia Everett, Director, Information Services, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Using advanced zoning and digitizing techniques, ProQuest will digitally reproduce every issue from cover to cover ─ not just news stories and editorials, but also photos, graphics, and advertisements. Searchers will be able to enter terms (keywords, dates, author's name, article type, etc.) to search the full file. A results list will supply bibliographic information, including date, page number, and author's name (where provided). To see the text, the user simply chooses the article, and the article image is displayed. Users will also be able to display the full page image of any page in any issue. The database will be completely browseable by issue, allowing searchers to browse through entire issues page by page as they would a printed paper.

“The Atlanta Constitution was regarded as the ‘voice of the New South’ during the time period being digitized.  It was led by a series of outstanding editors including Henry W. Grady and Clark Howell whose influence and political involvement had a significant impact on the development of Atlanta and the Southeast. Now, this new digital archive will make a valuable contribution to scholars studying the South from the post-Civil War Reconstruction through the turn of the 20th century,” said Chris Cowan, ProQuest Vice President, Publishing.

The ProQuest Historical Newspapers project encompasses newspapers with deep historical value for researchers in various fields. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will join other prestigious U.S newspapers already in the ProQuest program: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Post,Chicago Tribune, and Los Angeles Times.

Libraries may receive more information by contacting their account representative at 1-800-521-0600, ext 3183 or 3452 (outside the U.S., call +44-1-223-215-512) or pqsales@il.proquest.com. Editors may call 1-800-521-0600, ext 6489 or email pr@il.proquest.com.

About The Atlanta Journal Constitution

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the leading source -- both in print and online -- of news, information and advertising for metropolitan Atlanta, reaching more than 1.1 million readers each weekday and 1.8 million readers each Sunday. Every month, more than three million unique visitors access the newspaper's Web sites, including www.ajc.com and www.accessAtlanta.com. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is a division of Cox Enterprises, Inc., one of the nation's leading media companies and providers of automotive services.

 

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.