ANN ARBOR, Mich., January 20, 2006 - ProQuest Information and Learning announces the launch of Twentieth Century House of Commons Parliamentary Papers, the second collection of the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers -- the most detailed primary source for the past two centuries for Britain, its colonies and the wider world.

Now available from ProQuest’s Chadwyck-Healey unit , the Twentieth Century House of Commons Parliamentary Papers adds 104 years to the digital collection of nineteenth century papers which was released in May 2005.  At launch, the 20^th century collection includes all 107,148 index records for the period 1901-2004 and the first 4,463 full text papers from 1901-1904.   At completion, the collection will include all papers from 1901 to the current session.  The 19^th century and 20^th century collections can be acquired individually or together, and used in conjunction via a single Chadwyck-Healey interface.

"These papers are of rich research value, recording events from the early 1800s through the two World Wars to today,” said Mary Sauer-Games, ProQuest's vice-president of publishing for Chadwyck-Healey products. “They influenced public opinion and social and political philosophy, and provided a forum for the ideas of hundreds of thinkers.  And now every page is available online from 1801 right up to current times."

The papers include bills, reports, correspondence and command papers.  As with the 19^th Century papers, they will be full-text searchable with hit-term highlighting, bibliographic data and subject indexing. 

High-quality scans of the original printed papers will allow users to see all of the accompanying illustrations, statistics and maps. 

The Parliamentary Papers represent a very important source of information on the twentieth century since they broadly cover everything officially published concerning the British Parliament and its work. Twentieth century scholars find them particularly important because they cover a wide range of social, economic, legal and political topics, while providing this view not only for the United Kingdom, but for the whole of the British Empire and the wider world.   Scholars can find information relating to a wide area of topics including:

• World Wars I and II
• Russian Revolution
• Independence of Australia, India, Pakistanand African nations
• Creation of the British Broadcasting Corporation
• IRA
• British withdrawal and formation of Israel
• SuezCrisis
• Abolition of the death penalty in Britain
• Gulf Wars I and II
• Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty
• Dismantling of Apartheid 
• Thatcherism

In addition to full-text searching, users will be able to search and browse various specific fields, including title, subject, author, Parliamentary session, paper type, year and others.  Research results will include brief bibliographic citations with hyperlinks to more detailed records and related documents.  Researchers will also be able to view complete, digitized images of original pages from all the works in the database and even manipulate them.  For example, users can zoom in and out, print pages one at a time, or navigate between illustrations only.

The Twentieth Century House of Commons Parliamentary Papers is part of ProQuest’s ongoing initiative to expand access to the world’s most significant historical research collections.  The House of Commons Parliamentary Papers archive will be dynamic and continue to grow.  Customers can add an additional year's worth of new parliamentary sessions content annually.

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.