Many new features are included in the release. ProQuest Smart Search query analysis provides help on the fly for more and better results. Enhanced email capabilities allow users to track their results as well as share them with colleagues. Advanced browsing gives better access to non-periodical content. As in previous releases of ProQuest, all of the enhancements were developed to help professional and novice researchers accomplish their research goals quickly with pinpoint accuracy. Still, its familiar look will make the transition from old to new easy for users.
ProQuest Smart Search taps into ProQuest’s powerful indexing to supercharge results, analyzing a user’s search, and then offering suggestions for related topics and publications at the top of the results screen. It uses a variety of techniques to map a user’s search terms to relevant items in ProQuest’s controlled vocabulary. These techniques analyze index term occurrence patterns, as well as comparing a user’s current search against previously run searches.
“Smart Search engages our extensive controlled vocabulary, enabling users to navigate quickly to the most relevant articles. It’s especially valuable for less-experienced researchers, users who are not savvy about the subject thesaurus or constructing Boolean queries. It also provides greater transparency of content in the databases being searched so more experienced researchers can refine their search strategy as they go,” said John Law, director, product management ─ ProQuest platform.
The same technology enables users to browse topics in most ProQuest databases. Users can browse through subjects, companies, people, and geographic locations selecting and narrowing terms to find relevant articles in an expanded number of ProQuest databases. New browsing capabilities provide enhanced access to non-periodical content, which has become a mainstay in today’s research environment.
Users can browse through complete report sets from the following collections by accessing through Publication Search and from the database selection screen:
- EIU ViewsWires
- Hoover’s Company Profiles
- More coming soon
Email enhancements include:
- Multiple articles in a single email
- Brief citations with links back to an article in ProQuest
- Full text of articles in ASCII or PDF format
- Email My Research Summary, a highly refined version of a marked list
- Email formatted bibliographies in a choice of formats
- Email translated articles, i.e. articles that the user selected for machine translation to Spanish or Portuguese, also a ProQuest feature
- Citation information is embedded in every PDF both on screen and when emailed.
Users will enjoy extended browsing and index searching for more databases, thanks to the new infrastructure of ProQuest Smart Search. The tools are available on proprietary ProQuest products, making it easy for users to construct queries and narrow research topics using ProQuest’s renowned controlled vocabularies.
The new release also adds enhanced ProQuest CrossLinksTM, allowing users to link seamlessly from their results list into a link-resolver service and view the full-text of the article from wherever it may be found in the library’s holdings or in external holdings the library may be able to access. ProQuest CrossLinks supports the use of a static URL to access resources or it can dynamically create URLs based on article-level information.
A “What’s New” link on the main search page provides information on interface enhancements coming to the product, as well as links to documentation, screen shots, and feature previews. A demonstration of the new interface, and complete descriptions and guides for its many features, are available on the ProQuest website: Take the ProQuest interface web tour.
Free trials of ProQuest products are available. 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 ProQuest Information and Learning
ProQuest Information and Learning is a world leader in collecting, organizing, and publishing information worldwide for 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-HealeyTM electronic and microform resources, UMI® microform and print reference products, eLibrary® and SIRS® educational resources, and XanEdu® online faculty and student resources.
ProQuest Information and Learning is a business unit of ProQuest Company (www.proquestcompany.com), which was recently named one of the top 100 fastest growing technology companies in the United States by Business 2.0. For more information about ProQuest Information and Learning, visit www.il.proquest.com.
