ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 26, 2004 - ProQuest Information and Learning and MyFamily.com are partnering to produce a new tool to support genealogy research in libraries. The Web-based database Ancestry Library Edition will replace and supercede the current library product offering, AncestryPlus, which will be phased out over the coming year. Ancestry Library Edition will be available effective August 30, 2004. ProQuest Information and Learning, a unit of ProQuest Company, creates and publishes databases for libraries and educational institutions worldwide.

Significant improvements will be available for subscribers of the new Ancestry Library Edition product distributed by ProQuest. The interface will have a cleaner look with more user-friendly search options.  

Additionally, the new database features key genealogical resources not previously available electronically in the library market.  Exclusive new content available in Ancestry Library Edition includes the Immigration Collection, which features New York and San Francisco passenger lists and the New York Petitions for Naturalization Index.  

Current Ancestry library subscribers will still receive the vast majority of the data currently available in their subscription.  Continuing content includes the U.S. Census Collection (“every name” index dating from 1790 to 1930); U.S. Data Collection (birth, marriage, and death records; World War I draft registration information; and Social Security Death Index); and the U.K. and Ireland Collection (England and Wales Census Images and Indexes; England and Wales Civil Registration Index 1837-present; and England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales Parish and Probate Records, 1500s-1837).

“Ancestry Library Edition will provide library users with easier-to-navigate access to the valuable census and immigration data from MyFamily.com that they’ve come to rely on,” said Chris Cowan, vice president of publishing, ProQuest Information and Learning.  “And, to serve libraries more effectively, ProQuest will distribute the database with no restriction on the number of simultaneous users.  Using a site license model, libraries will be able to provide unrestricted access to any number of users within the library.”

ProQuest will provide site license subscriptions to current Ancestry customers at no additional cost from their current subscription for their Ancestry product.

“Ancestry customers with renewal dates after August will benefit from switching to the new Ancestry Library Edition product to ensure uninterrupted service next year,” said Cowan.  “The ‘old’ Ancestry edition will be disabled on August 30, 2005.

The agreement between MyFamily.com and ProQuest Information and Learning (announced last month; see http://www.il.proquest.com/division/pr/04/20040628B.shtml ) builds on a long-term relationship between the two companies.  Content from ProQuest’s HeritageQuest™ genealogy research tool is currently available through MyFamily.com’s consumer product.

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 MyFamily.com

MyFamily.com, Inc. provides the largest and most popular collection of online information for connecting families with their histories and with one another.  The company's tools, content and community empower individuals to find the people most important to them, and to discover and share their unique family stories.  The MyFamily network of web-based products includes MyFamily.com, Ancestry.com, Genealogy.com, and Roots.com.  The company also publishes Family Tree Maker^®, the #1 selling family tree software, Ancestry Magazine, Genealogical Computing Magazine, more than 50 book titles, and numerous databases in CD-ROM.  For more information about MyFamily.com, visit www.myfamily.com or contact pr@myfamilyinc.com.

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.cambridgeinformationgroup.com.