New Providence, NJ – December 19, 2011 – PubTrack™ Consumer will launch a comprehensive new research study into the behavior of cookbook buyers, which will enable publishers to make better informed decisions in one the industry’s most dynamic market segments. The PubTrack Consumer Cookbook Publishing Report will determine how, where and why consumers buy cookbooks, digging deep into the impact of the digital transformation on what consumers buy and how they learn about cookbooks and authors. Over time, this annual study will plot trends so that publishers can develop products that fit more precisely to the shifting preferences of their customers. PubTrack is a highly regarded service of Bowker, an affiliated business of ProQuest.

“Home cooks and food enthusiasts face an exploding number of choices – from new cable and TV programming, to free content online, to ebooks and mobile apps,” said Kelly Gallagher, Vice President, Bowker Publishing Services. “It has never been more important to understand the people who buy and read cookbooks as they search for instruction, inspiration, and entertainment. Yet, there’s been little comprehensive research into consumer behavior. This study will fill that gap.”

The first PubTrack Consumer Cookbook Publishing Report is scheduled to be released in early 2012. In addition to exploring the differences between food enthusiasts, home cooks and those who cook, but don’t buy cookbooks, publishers can expect the information gathered to identify where consumers find inspiration and ideas for meal planning and cooking information, such as techniques and recipes. They will also gain insights into the demographics of different groups of consumers and customer behaviors such as shopping frequency, where and when they shop, and what influences their purchases. The influence of free digital content will be explored, along with the importance of brands and celebrities.

The PubTrack Consumer Cookbook Publishing Report is powered by the Bowker PubTrack Consumer service. PubTrack Consumer survey respondents are derived from a nationwide annual panel of 44,000 adult men, women and teens who complete monthly online surveys about their book purchasing behavior. Regularly updated with actionable reports, PubTrack Consumer surveys have proven to be essential to effectively create, market, and sell in today’s dynamic book publishing environment.

The PubTrack Consumer Cookbook Publishing Report will be made possible by the support of a select group of leading publishers who are helping to shape the survey and will be granted exclusive early access to the resulting data and analysis. Publishers who wish to participate in this program are urged to contact James Howitt, Director of Publishers Solutions—PubTrack, james.howitt@bowker.com.

About Bowker (www.bowker.com)
The official ISBN Agency for the United States and its territories, Bowker is the world’s leading provider of bibliographic information and management solutions designed to help publishers, booksellers, and libraries better serve their customers. The company creates products that make books easier for people to discover, evaluate, order, and experience, and provides services to publishers that help them understand and meet the interests of readers worldwide. Bowker, an affiliated business of ProQuest, is headquartered in New Providence, N.J., with additional operations in England and Australia.

November 29, 2011 (Ann Arbor, Mich.) — In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein becomes inspired in his search for the “elixir of life” after turning his back on modern scientific theory and instead studying the “wild fancies” of three ancient authors: Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim, the 16th-century German occult philosopher, Paracelsus, a 16th-century Swiss physician and alchemist, and Albertus Magnus, a 13th-century Bavarian bishop who, according to legend, created an automaton that could answer questions put to it. The works of these three authors, together with many more in the areas of alchemy, astrology, demonology and pseudo-science, are all held in the Wellcome Library’s holdings of rare books related to the history of medicine. The world-renowned collection is now being digitized by ProQuest — an information company central to research — and, beginning this month, is freely available to all users in the U.K.

In all, more than 15,000 rare books published between 1485 and 1700 are being digitized. This period saw the publication of many of the first authoritative works of modern science, such as illustrated works of anatomy by Andreas Vesalius, Salomon Alberti and Caspar Bartholin, and groundbreaking texts such as Jean Beguin’s 1615 book Les elemens de Chymie, which contained the first ever chemical equation. But it was also a period in which modern scientific methods based on precise observation, classification and experiment happily co-existed with folk wisdom and fantasy. For example, the 11-volume Historia animalum by Ulisse Aldrovandi, one of the founders of modern zoology, is an encyclopedic work full of realistic illustrations of animals and plants drawn from life, in which mythical creatures such as dragons, hydras and centaurs appear alongside their real-life counterparts.

The first batch of 400 books which are now available also includes numerous examples of the “Book of Secrets,” such as The Secrets of Alexis of Piedmont (1555). Alexis was the pseudonym of an Italian physician and alchemist whose book was a compendium of recipes for medicines, household remedies, perfumes, dyes and experiments. Among them is a witch’s brew for the cure of gout, which involves boiling the whole carcass of a red-haired dog. These books were extremely popular and frequently translated and reprinted, as were books of prodigies such as Pierre Boaistuau’s Histoires prodigieuses (1568), an illustrated catalog of monsters, demons, deformities, natural disasters and miraculous events. Other illustrated works include books on falconry, military machinery, plants of the New World, and a fascinating 1568 volume with more than 130 woodcuts by Jöst Amman depicting trades and professions of the day, from the Pope and King down to the physician, bookbinder, clockmaker, brewer and barber.

The Wellcome is the fourth major library to participate in ProQuest’s groundbreaking project to expand and preserve access to primary sources of European history. ProQuest launched the project with the Danish Royal Library, Copenhagen and the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze in Italy, and has already made these rich national collections available to all Danish and Italian citizens, while a third digitization operation has recently started at the National Library of the Netherlands. In all cases, ProQuest sets up a scanning studio on site at the library and uses state-of-the-art technology to create high-definition color images of every page, including bindings and fold-outs.

Through the Early European Books project, ProQuest is building an increasingly comprehensive survey of printing in Europe to 1700 by digitizing and bringing together the holdings of major rare book libraries. To learn more visit www.proquest.com.

About ProQuest (www.proquest.com)
ProQuest connects people with vetted, reliable information. Key to serious research, the company has forged a 70-year reputation as a gateway to the world’s knowledge – from dissertations to governmental and cultural archives to news, in all its forms. Its role is essential to libraries and other organizations whose missions depend on the management and delivery of complete, trustworthy information.

ProQuest’s massive information pool is made accessible in research environments that accelerate productivity, empowering users to discover, create, and share knowledge.

An energetic, fast-growing organization, ProQuest includes the Bowker®, Dialog®, ebrary®, and Serials Solutions® businesses and notable research tools such as RefWorks™, Pivot™, and the Summon™ service. The company is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with offices around the world.

November 7, 2011 (ANN ARBOR, Mich.) – ProQuest, an information firm central to global research, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) are teaming to digitize the association’s archives, bringing one of the most famous records of the civil rights movement to the online world. The collection — nearly 2 million pages of internal memos, legal briefings and direct action summaries from national, legal and branch offices throughout the country — charts NAACP’s work and delivers a first-hand view into crucial issues: lynching, school desegregation, and discrimination in the military, the criminal justice system, employment, and housing, among others. Preserved on microfilm, it holds the distinction of being the most heavily used collection in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. Now, it will be fully searchable and accessible electronically and available through academic, research and public library websites as part of ProQuest® History Vault, an initiative to digitize historically rich primary sources, opening their discovery to broader audiences.
“This is a watershed in the research of one of the most profound social movements in modern history,” said Rod Gauvin, ProQuest Senior Vice-President, Publishing. “Digitization creates accessibility, but it’s just one piece. We’re surrounding that digital content with a research environment that will enable users to explore, work with and experience it fully.”
“The individuals who represented the NAACP over the past 100 years – the national board members and branch presidents and secretaries, the men, women and young activists – have played an integral role in shaping our understanding of American democracy,” stated NAACP Chairman Roslyn M. Brock. “It is important that their stories are told and their names are remembered.”
“This organization has changed the very fabric of American society since its inception in 1909, and it has served as a model for how advocacy should work,” stated NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. “As we carry our message of equality and social justice deeper into the twenty-first century, we must look back and draw lessons from our rich history. This archive will provide a valuable service to historians and activists alike.”
“As the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, our legacy is the prologue to our future,” stated NAACP General Counsel Kim Keenan. “This archive will serve as a crucial resource for future civil rights leaders and historians. It is a testament to the power of a widespread, organized group of Americans to make a lasting impact on our nation through peaceful collective action.”
The documents span a remarkable range. National office records provide insight into NAACP’s leaders and their relationships with the U.S. Congress, with presidents from Taft to Nixon, and with other civil rights organizations. They also include the full range of “direct action” tactics taken in the 1960s, revealing a first hand look at the important roles grassroots leaders and women played in the civil rights movement. Documents from local NAACP branches give additional depth and insight into personalities active at the neighborhood level and provide an intimate look at social conditions in communities from all regions of the U.S.
With a timeline that runs from 1909 to 1972, users can examine the realities of segregation in the early 20th century, chart victories such as the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, then explore the late 1960s and 1970s as the Black Power Movement, urban riots, and the Vietnam War provided challenges for the NAACP. Legal files in the collection chart the organization’s spectacular legal successes from the 1910s through the 1954 landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision and into the early 1970s.
As part of the ProQuest® History Vault, the NAACP archives will be available for remote study and supported by rich, intuitive search technology. Their original archival arrangement schemes will be preserved and PDFs of the original documents will replicate the user experience of browsing through archive boxes. The ProQuest® History Vault also includes collections that chronicle The Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century – which contain digitized documents from the founding of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs at the close of the 19th century to the riots that followed the verdict in the Rodney King police brutality case in the 1990s. ProQuest’s rich research resources also include Historical Black Newspapers, an archive of digitized African-American newspapers, and Black Studies Center, a digital core collection of primary and secondary sources that record and illuminate the Black experience, from ancient Africa through modern times.

Digitization of the records is part of a larger partnership to preserve NAACP’s historical archives. ProQuest will be working with individual NAACP offices throughout America to implement best practices for selecting cataloging, storing and handling of original documents.

To learn more visit www.proquest.com.

About the NAACP (www.naacp.org)

Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.

About ProQuest (www.proquest.com)

ProQuest connects people with vetted, reliable information. Key to serious research, the company has forged a 70-year reputation as a gateway to the world’s knowledge – from dissertations to governmental and cultural archives to news, in all its forms. Its role is essential to libraries and other organizations whose missions depend on the delivery of complete, trustworthy information.
ProQuest’s massive information pool is accessible through the all-new ProQuest® platform, which moves beyond navigation to empower researchers to use, create, and share content—accelerating research productivity.

No. 332
2010 Revenue: $3.3 million
Three-Year Growth: 1,000%

No, it’s not School of Rock, but it sure does look like it. Bach to Rock provides kids with music education—but from bands they actually listen to. “You really have to be committed to the success of others and don’t underestimate the amount of complexity, work and legal hurdles you’ll need to overcome to franchise your concept,” says Brian Gross, president of the company. “At the end of the day, your success is now determined by how well others do delivering your concept (and to that point, it may have been based on how well you did with it).”

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When Martin MacAlister is not touring with Kill Lincoln, his ska punk band (“punk with trombones,” he says), he is teaching kids as young as 6 how to play “Yellow Submarine” on the guitar. MacAlister is an instructor at Bach to Rock, a Bethesda, Maryland–based music school for kids, a job he landed while still in college. MacAlister splits his workweek between the classroom and the school’s state-of-the-art studio, where he records with students and, occasionally, his own band. Though owning a studio is MacAlister’s goal, he says he loves teaching. “The most rewarding part of my job is when the kids I taught to play the classics come back as 15- or 16-year-olds, writing their own material. It shows they’re really owning it, and that’s pretty cool.” —Issie Lapowsky

http://www.inc.com/ss/2011-inc-500-working-at-fast-growing-companies.html?slide=3

David Archuleta was on his way to runner-up of the seventh season when the then 11-year-old decided to take his own vocal cords for a test run in his living room.

“I just sort of wanted to try it for myself,” he says. “And I just sort of belted it out, and my dad heard me and he was shocked.”

Now the Gaithersburg native and freshman at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville is one of four finalists in the Kidz Bop national kids talent search, Kidz Star USA. About 45,000 kids under the age of 15 posted videos of themselves performing. Josh’s rendition of “Forget You” by Cee Lo Green was picked by judges as one of the the 10 best videos. He then made another video of him singing “Hey, Sister Soul” by Train. Online voting by fans and input from the judges landed Josh among the final four.

Josh was excited at first just to get some attention for his performance, but now he really wants to win. “I’m always looking to get that extra mile,” he says, days before traveling to New York along with the other finalists to make their final videos. Josh recorded “Lazy Song” by Bruno Mars. The final performances can be seen — and voted on — starting tomorrow at www.kidzbop.com/kidzstarusa.

Even if Josh doesn’t win, he still plans on continuing to sing. He takes voice lessons once a week, and is a part of a band called Pulse, which has performed at Six Flags and also at a kids battle of the bands at the 9:30 Club in Washington.

“What I love about singing is it’s the most portable thing. I practice all the time. I sing everywhere,” he says.

What the future holds for Josh, he doesn’t know. His favorite subject is English, and he thinks he might like to go into advertising when he grows up. “If it’s not putting my music out there, I want to do something that puts my ideas out there. I like to think of myself as a creative person,” he says.

If Josh wins, he will get a contract to record his own album, plus he will sing on “Kidz Bop 21.” Josh thinks winning could be the start of a career for him. “That could take me a lot of places,” he says. Maybe there will be more songs and videos and attention. Or maybe he’ll go back to being a typical kid, hanging out with friends and playing basketball.

“I love the adrenaline that comes from everyone looking at you and everyone [being] there to watch you,” he says. “Obviously the music business, it’s very hard to get into, but I would have to say that music would be something that I would be really interested in pursuing. ”

—Moira E. McLaughlin

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/local-boy-competes-for-national-honors/2011/09/13/gIQAAFBDgK_story.html

October 10, 2011 (Morrisville, North Carolina) – Dialog, a ProQuest business unit supporting professional research, has released “Smart Meters: Yea or nay?” a report exploring the potential of and controversy surrounding digital power grids and meters that monitor and regulate the flow of electricity. A particularly timely report for the U.S., where the summer’s record heat and a blackout has put the stability of the power grid on the front page, it encapsulates information from Dialog’s authoritative resources, providing a uniquely comprehensive view of the issue.

“Research on power grids is on the rise as weather and increasing energy consumption strain old and outdated systems,” said Tim Wahlberg, ProQuest Senior Vice President and Dialog General Manager. “There’s a wealth of good information assembled already. Dialog provides a powerful and precise way of gathering and analyzing it for smart decision-making.”

“Smart Meters: Yea or Nay?” looks at the impetus of the smart grid initiative, a movement that brings together leaders and innovators from a number of established and emerging industries, as well as system integrators and consultants. Utility companies, governments, environmental watchdogs, and others are touting the updated smart grid and its meters, which lower peak demand in case of an energy-delivery issue. Enthusiasts say the smart grid is vital to the world’s economy by helping to incorporate alternative energy to fight global warming and by keeping power-greedy users in check.

But, smart meters have sparked heated controversy among residents who are concerned about their health and the privacy of their energy usage. “Smart Meters: Yea or Nay?” reports that in states such as California, Texas, and Connecticut, resistance to smart meters has grown so high that some communities have imposed temporary or even permanent bans on these devices. Californians fear radiation from wireless communications devices in meters, while many Texans claim the meters and grid changes will increase their electric bills. One of the largest companies designing, manufacturing, servicing and installing smart meters says utility companies have not done a good job educating people about the issues.

“Smart Meters: Yea or Nay?” carefully assembles information from both sides of the debate, capturing this pivotal moment in time.

“Smart Meters: Yea or Nay?” is available in Eye on Innovation, a bimonthly electronic publication from ProQuest that explores scientific advancement through analysis of authoritative information sources. Eye on Innovation researchers use the Dialog search service to gather relevant data from a pool of millions of sources, and then uncover emerging trends. Readers gain a unique global perspective about important issues and topics, but also learn how to manipulate information for insight into what’s next. To obtain this report and subscribe to future issues visit http://support.dialog.com/enewsletters/eyeoninnovation/201104/.

About Dialog

ProQuest’s business unit Dialog pioneered online searching in advance of the Internet. As the global leader in providing mission-critical information that drives innovation by professionals of all kinds including scientists, engineers, legal practitioners and business analysts, Dialog is renowned for enabling precision search of content from the world’s most authoritative publishers. Sources include massive deep web repositories of scientific, technical and biomedical literature, patents and trademarks, and thousands of industry, news and company information sources – now being made accessible through the powerful and intuitive ProQuest Dialog™ search service on the new ProQuest platform.

Professional searchers such as librarians, researchers and information users from corporate, professional and government organizations in more than 100 countries prize Dialog for depth of content, advanced searching and the ability to provide complete solutions.

Dialog is headquartered in Morrisville, North Carolina, with offices in Sunnyvale, California, and London. Learn more about Dialog (www.dialog.com) and the entire ProQuest family of brands and companies at www.proquest.com.

October 5, 2011 (ANN ARBOR, Mich.) – Advances in the ProQuest research environment have streamlined access to a major literary collection assembled by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Scholars and students who rely on Dr. Gates’ ground-breaking Black Literature, 1827-1940, a microfiche collection, can now quickly identify and connect to tens of thousands full-text, digitized versions of articles found through ProQuest’s Black Studies Center and Historical Black Newspapers.
“ProQuest is continually looking deep into its databases to find connections between bits of content,” said Tim Babbitt, ProQuest Senior Vice-President, Platforms. “The paths aren’t always obvious, but we’re committed to finding them, exposing them and allowing information in multiple formats to interact with one another to make the process of research more productive.”
In the late 1980s, Dr. Gates began the development of Black Literature, opening what he called the “hermetically sealed library of African American periodical literature after a century of neglect.” The collection captures novels, short stories, poems and reviews — scattered throughout 110 black periodicals and newspapers — and has been widely acclaimed for its ability to uncover early or little known works by some of history’s most influential authors.
“Several previously unknown Zora Neale Hurston stories have been discovered through the Black Literature 1827-1940 resource, including The Book of Harlem, The Country in the Woman, The Back Room, and Monkey Junk,” said Dr. Gates.
These Hurston stories were found by Texas Women’s University professor Dr. Genevieve West while conducting research for her book Zora Neale Hurston and American Literary Culture (2005). “These important ‘lost’ stories that I recovered in Black Literature 1827-1940 complicate and enrich our understanding of Hurston as a short story writer during the 1920s and 1930s,” said Dr. West.
Despite the importance of the works, students’ and scholars’ only online access to this vast body of American literature has been a digital index, with full-text residing on microfiche. However, ProQuest used the digital index as ignition, enabling deep links that could seamlessly connect scholars to full-text, digital versions of articles archived in Black Studies Center and ProQuest Historical Black Newspapers. In fact, 27,000 works contained in Black Literature are now available for exploration through these online resources.
Among the luminaries recorded by Dr. Gates in his Black Literature, 1827-1940 and now discoverable in ProQuest are works by Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, Waring Cuney, Edythe Mae Gordon, and hundreds of others. Well-known writers, such as Hurston and poet Gwendolyn Brooks, the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize, authored works found only in these early publications and newspapers. For example, Brooks, under the tutelage of Chicago Defender columnist Langston Hughes, published 75 poems in the newspaper which are not found anywhere else. Scholars are now able to easily mine this resource and discover more gems of African American literature collected by Dr. Gates.

To learn more visit www.proquest.com.

About ProQuest (www.proquest.com)

ProQuest connects people with vetted, reliable information. Key to serious research, the company has forged a 70-year reputation as a gateway to the world’s knowledge – from dissertations to governmental and cultural archives to news, in all its forms. Its role is essential to libraries and other organizations whose missions depend on the delivery of complete, trustworthy information.
ProQuest’s massive information pool is accessible through the all-new ProQuest® platform, which moves beyond navigation to empower researchers to use, create, and share content—accelerating research productivity.

October 5, 2011 (Toronto) – Navtech, Inc., a leader in flight operations software and services, is showcasing their role in a recent EFB project, through an online report. IMDC, a French-based aviation industry consulting firm recently published an in-depth case study profiling Swedish cargo carrier Amapola Flyg AB and their search for an iPad Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) solution. The report is available for download from Navtech’s website, www.navtech.aero.

“Navtech is pleased to have been the 1st partner to commit to being a part of Amapola’s pursuit for an iPad EFB solution. We hope that others in the aviation industry read and enjoy the IMDC case study as it tells a concise story of aviation technology, partnership and a shared goal for more efficient airline operations,” said Lee Granger, Navtech VP, Product Management.

The report outlines that Navtech, which provides Charts to Amapola, worked with their customer to develop a charts application for the iPad–Navtech iCharts. Navtech’s extensive and up-to-date data paired with hardware and installation support from Fokker and Saab helped the cost-effective and environmentally friendly EFB solution acquire approval by the Swedish Civil Aviation Authority. Amapola’s EFB solution using an iPad for Class 2 operation means the airline operates a paperless cockpit for all flight phases. Amapola’s solution is the 1st of its kind to be approved as Class 2 world-wide.

“The iPad is the most-discussed new platform in the commercial aviation EFB market. We chose the Amapola installation for its unique qualities as a Class 2 installation, approach to certification, and application in the flight deck,” said Andrew Kemmetmueller, Managing Consultant IMDC. “With over 100 airlines already requesting and receiving this case study, IMDC has observed a broad industry push in the direction of iPad as a viable option for airlines who want to migrate to paperless charts.”

Navtech is pleased that their iCharts solution, is the primary application product being used with Amapola’s EFB. The application also manages Amapola’s company manuals. IMDC reports that Amapola plans to issue an iPad to each of their Pilots and complete training by early fall 2011 and they are working on upgraded software for use with iPad2.

Navtech continues to provide the airline with resources and support and provides the Navtech iCharts application on the Apple iTunes store for free. The download comes with three sample Navtech iCharts (not for use in flight). Subscribers to Navtech Charts may see their Charts on the application by contacting their account manager.

To learn more, visit www.navtech.aero.

About Navtech, Inc.

Navtech, Inc. is a leading global provider of flight operations solutions, serving more than 350 airlines and aviation services customers. Navtech’s product suite includes aeronautical charts, navigation data solutions, flight planning, aircraft performance software (take-off/landing, weight and balance), and crew planning solutions. Many of Navtech’s products can be configured as part of an EFB solution, including take-off data calculation, weight and balance, and aeronautical charts. These products, supported by Navtech’s AS9100 and ISO: 9001 certification, directly support millions of flights each year and help Navtech customers maximize efficiency, reduce costs, ensure compliance with complex national and international safety regulations, and effectively deliver their services.

Headquartered just outside Toronto in Waterloo, Ontario — Canada’s technology center — Navtech also has locations in Stockholm, London, and Ahmedabad, India, and is further supported by satellite offices around the world. Its home on the web www.navtech.aero is the first and only site for viewing the Navtech Aviation Poster Collection, a collection of hundreds of posters and other ephemera that capture the history of aviation through the arresting graphic design of the day.

About IMDC – Clarity Through Credible Analysis

IMDC is a specialist consulting firm that assists airlines and their suppliers with strategies for all forms of cabin technologies. Established in 1999, it has the most comprehensive in-house knowledge base on the industry. IMDC had completed over 250 projects for a variety of clients. Visit www.imdc.net.