ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 2, 2008 - Five ProQuest products have been selected as finalists in the Software & Information Industry Association's (SIIA) 22nd annual CODiE Awards. Selected products include:

• CSA Illustrata: Natural Sciences
• 18th, 19th, and 20th Century Parliamentary Papers
• CultureGrams
• SIRS Researcher
• Environmental Impact Statements: Full-Text & Digests

"Competition is tough this year and that makes selection as a Finalist a real achievement," said Ken Wash, SIIA president. "All the companies on this year’s list should feel justifiably proud of their recognition."

"We are delighted that the SIIA judges have named ProQuest solutions to the list of CODiE finalists,” said Marty Kahn, CEO of ProQuest. ”Competing for and winning the coveted CODiE awards has become a source of pride for all companies in the industry."

CSA Illustrata: Natural Sciences is a finalist in the Best Online Science or Technology Service category. The first digital resource to transform the discovery process through the Deep Indexing, the granular indexing and categorizing of data presented in tables, figures, maps, photos and charts. CSA Illustrata saves researchers time by quickly searching nearly 1.8 million objects from more than 1,800 international scholarly journals to pinpoint the most relevant journal articles with their pertinent graphical objects. CSA Illustrata helps researchers uncover data that would not easily be found via traditional searching, and improves research efficiency by quickly identifying the most relevant results.

CSA Illustrata&trade: Natural Sciences is expanding rapidly with a continuously-growing collection of records from key peer-reviewed academic journals. Additional releases in the series are planned, beginning with CSA Illustrata™: Technology

18th, 19th, and 20th Century Parliamentary Papers collection is a finalist in the Best Online Government Information Service category. This online resource, comprising 187,809 individual papers containing over 9.5 million pages, is among the richest primary sources for world history and is considered vital to understanding the UK's modern development.  The Parliamentary Papers influenced public opinion and social and political philosophy, and provided a forum for ideas for hundreds of thinkers, among them Marconi, Keynes, and Beveridge. They are the working documents of government for all areas of social, political, economic and foreign policy, showing how issues were explored and legislation was formed.

Together, ProQuest offers three Parliamentary Papers collections covering more than three centuries in digital form (1688-2004) - fully integrated with authoritative indexing. Seamless subject browsing and precision search capabilities offer researchers unparalleled access to this key historical primary source for exploring Britain, its colonies, and the wider world.

CultureGrams is a finalist in the Best Education Reference or Search Service category. CultureGrams has become a favorite among schools, businesses, military and government, and public libraries because of its insider's perspective on daily life that detail the customs and cultures of the world's people.

Reports cover more than 200 countries, the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, and Canadian provinces. And, whether it's India, Canada, or Montserrat , each CultureGram offers an equality of coverage detailing 25 different aspects of the country and its culture. Additional content includes images, videos, slideshows, maps, statistics, and a recipe collection that offers five authentic recipes for every country in the database.

CultureGrams has become one of the most trusted and widely used cultural reference products. CultureGrams' strength is its involvement of native or long-term residents to provide a real-life view into each country. Writers are selected for their education, knowledge of a national language, experience with different regions and socioeconomic groups, recent residency in the country, and access to current information.

SIRS Researcheris a finalist in the Best Social Studies Instructional Solution category. SIRS Researcher helps make sense of the world by offering relevant, credible resources that tell the whole story on the major issues of the day. Researchers can go in-depth into current critical issues and explore thousands of topics on enduring social issues with SIRS Researcher's Leading Issues coverage.Coverage includes ongoing issues such as abortion, capital punishment, and gun control; and current issues such as global warming, immigration, and War in Iraq. Our special U.S. Election 2008 feature provides complete coverage of the candidates and issues as the campaigns unfold.

Analysis and opinions—hand selected from thousands of national and international sources—cover the pros, cons, and everything in between on every issue. And educator tools tie the issues to curriculum, classroom assignments, and learning standards.

SIRS Researcher provides:

• Concise introductory overviews, timelines, and reference materials for context
• Review of the issues’ pros and cons with detailed articles for each side
• Engaging inquiry-based questions and graphic organizers for supporting debates, presentations, and more
• Relevant documents, websites, and multimedia sources with perspectives from all sides, updated daily, to help researchers go from the “what’s” of the issue to the “why’s”

Environmental Impact Statements: Full-Text is a finalist in the Best Online Science or Technology Service category.The federal government issues hundreds of environmental impact statements each year - and this one resource provides detailed abstracts of all of those statements, also indexing them for easy reference. EIS extracts the key issues from complex government-released environmental impact statements, converting massive documents into concise, readable abstracts. Each entry includes a clear description of the project, sections on positive impact and negative consequences, and legal mandates.

EIS includes index records and synopses of all EIS Digests since 1985. It also currently contains the full-text, including maps and Species Impact Statements, is available for statements issued since 2003.EIS is available through the CSA Illumina platform.

CODiE awards finalists are selected by a panel of over 250 judges from the trade press, consulting, educators, IT specialists and other knowledgeable, but neutral, experts. This year’s 340 finalists were chosen from more than 1,000 nominations submitted by more than 600 companies.

Finalists move on to a second round of judging in which SIIA members cast their votes to determine the CODiE Awards Winners. The 2008 Codie Awards will be presented at a gala event on May 20 at the historic Palace Hotel in San Francisco, CA.

 

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.