ProQuest joins Jisc's Digital Archival Collections Group Purchasing Pilot

ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ProQuest is working with Jisc to enable UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to build strong, user-centered research collections that better support their research focus areas and budgets.

ProQuest is taking part in an innovative group purchasing pilot program aimed at supporting HEIs with a more efficient, coordinated and transparent approach to the acquisition of digital archival primary source collections that Jisc set up in response to requirements from its members. This group purchasing program leverages institutions' collective purchasing power to enable the widest adoption of digital primary source archives.

Institutions will be able to select from a broad range of resources and pledge their interest until mid-July. The final price of each resource database will be based on the number of pledges received from institutions across any of the ProQuest products offered in the Pilot Program.

• This program will also allow HEIs to trial the resources databases for up to 90 days at no cost.
• ProQuest's detailed trial-usage statistics let HEIs make data-driven purchase decisions, expanding their collections with materials that have demonstrated value to each of their communities.

The pilot includes databases that address the interests and needs of the UK HEI community – including librarians, faculty and end users. Anchored by seven essential databases that support core curriculum needs and research interests, the ProQuest offering also includes a rich variety of new and noteworthy products, enabling institutions to customize to the needs of their users. While each HEI chooses their own custom menu of products, they're able to take advantage of preferential group pricing.

"There is plenty of evidence that the use of digital archives of primary source material has a positive impact on teaching, learning and research at the undergraduate and postgraduate level," said Paola Marchionni, Head of Digital Resources for Teaching, Learning and Research at Jisc. "These resources have become part of the scholarly communication lifecycle, and through this new approach to purchasing we're hoping to lower the barriers to adopt and support the widest access to these important collections."  

"ProQuest and Jisc share a common goal of supporting the important work of librarians, students and faculty," said Susan Bokern, ProQuest Vice President, Product Management. "We are delighted to partner with Jisc in developing creative solutions for the UK higher education community to enable them to acquire key resources that will help achieve their goals of delivering better research, better learning and better insights."

About Jisc (http://www.jisc.ac.uk/)

Jisc is the UK higher, further education and skills sectors' not-for-profit organisation for digital services and solutions.  We operate shared digital infrastructure and services, negotiate sector-wide deals with IT vendors and commercial publishers and provide trusted advice and practical assistance for universities, colleges and learning providers.

Find out more about the pilot at https://digitisation.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2017/03/07/new-group-purchasing-pilot-to-lower-cost-of-digital-archival-collections/ and about Jisc at www.jisc.ac.uk or contact the press team on [email protected]

About ProQuest (http://www.proquest.com)

ProQuest connects people with vetted, reliable information. Key to serious research, the company's products are a gateway to the world's knowledge including dissertations, governmental and cultural archives, news, historical collections and ebooks. ProQuest technologies serve users across the critical points in research, helping them discover, access, share, create and manage information.

The company's cloud-based technologies offer flexible solutions for librarians, students and researchers through the ProQuest^®, Alexander Street™, Bowker^®, Dialog^®, Ex Libris^® and SIPX^® businesses – and notable research tools such as the RefWorks^® citation and reference management platform, the Pivot^® research development tool and the Ebook Central®, ebrary^®, EBL™ and MyiLibrary^® ebook platforms. The company is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with offices around the world.

SOURCE ProQuest

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