Preserving a university's dissertations and masters' theses showcases its research and academic history and provides valuable study tools for students and researchers. ProQuest Information and Learning, a unit of ProQuest Company, creates and distributes databases for libraries and educational institutions worldwide.

The UMI Dissertation Digital Archiving and Access program is a new comprehensive service for accredited institutions in North America. It provides an institution with a lasting, accessible, and complete record of its doctoral dissertations and master's theses on microfilm or fiche. The program includes creating bibliographic citation information for all titles (with free MARC records), an archival microfilm copy for all dissertations, and access to all dissertations in print, microform and digital formats.

Microform has many archival advantages over paper. Paper copies may be vulnerable to theft, fire and decay. Limited paper copies are not easily accessible, and they may be checked out of the library and not returned. They also consume valuable shelf space in the library. Once filmed, the dissertations and theses are digitized, creating both an archival record and a Web-accessible version of the resources.

Expert indexing with controlled vocabulary and subject codes ensures ease of access and searching. All titles are included in the ProQuest Digital Dissertations database. The database provides free 24-page previews of any digitized dissertations, nearly 435, 000 titles and growing, as well as Web access to the full text of those titles and 2 million citations. Each institution receives free online access to its dissertations.

ProQuest has more than 60 years of experience in scholarship preservation around the world. ProQuest's dissertation database includes abstracts and citations for 2 million dissertations from more than 1,000 institutions with coverage dating to 1861.  More than 1.6 million are available from ProQuest in full text.

The Library of Congress recognizes ProQuest as the only nationally designated digital archive for dissertations. It's the first time the Library of Congress has entrusted an external site as an official national repository for a key collection. ProQuest also has an exclusive arrangement with the National Library of Canada to provide theses and dissertations from all major Canadian institutions. Dissertations preserved as part of the UMI Dissertation Digital Archiving and Access Program are automatically included in the national repository.

ProQuest offers on-demand duplication and distribution in paper and microform. Scholars value access to the research. In 2002, the top 10 best-selling dissertations sold hundreds of copies. The 2002 best-seller, Robert Russell Mackey's "The Uncivil War: Irregular Warfare in the Upper South, 1861-1865 (Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia)", will be published in print next year by the University of Oklahoma Press.

The program may take place in a single year or be spread over a number of years, based on available funds. Other options let libraries choose to convert based on decade, subject area or department. The program is not just for large institutions. New Jersey's Caldwell College recently shipped copies of 157 master's theses dating from 1993 (the year Caldwell's graduate programs debuted) to Ann Arbor for filming and digitizing. When complete, its archive will be a comprehensive record of its graduate programs to the present day.

Libraries and educational institutions may receive more information on the UMI Dissertation Digital Archiving and Access Program by contacting their account representative at 1-800-521-0600, ext. 2793 (outside the U.S., call 734-761-4700, ext. 2793) or umisalesinfo@il.proquest.com . Editors may call 1-800-521-0600, ext. 6489 or email pr@il.proquest.com .

ProQuest Information and Learning is a world leader in collecting, organizing, and distributing information worldwide to researchers, faculty, and students in libraries and schools. Known widely for its strength in business and economics, general-reference, humanities, social sciences, and STM content, the company develops premium databases comprising periodicals, newspapers, dissertations, out-of-print books, and other scholarly information from more than 8,500 publishers worldwide.  Users access the information through the ProQuest® Web-based online information system, Chadwyck-Healey^TM electronic and microform resources, UMI® microform and print reference products, eLibrary^TM and SIRS educational resources, and XanEdu^TM online faculty and student resources.  For more information about ProQuest Information and Learning, visit www.il.proquest.com.