By LJ Staff

In a surprise announcement December 15 ProQuest announced that Cambridge Information Group (CIG) is acquiring its Information & Learning (PQIL) operation serving libraries for a reported price of $222 million. ProQuest told LJ that "following the closing of this acquisition, plans are to combine its subsidiary CSA (formerly Cambridge Scientific Abstracts) and PQIL into an independent, privately held organization." The joint operation will continue to run both CSA's Maryland offices and PQIL's Michigan home base. Martin Kahn, an information industry veteran (OneSource, Ovid, BRS) will service as CEO and work from Michigan, with current CSA prexy Matt Dunie continuing in that role. ProQuest president Skip Prichard will remain through the transition phase to expedite the changeover and then move on.

Despite ProQuest's financial difficulties announced earlier this year leading to a restatement of its finances, the company lived up to its pledge of delivering a plethora of new products on time and barring its finances from impacting its library customers. In a statement to LJ, Prichard said "the combination of PQIL and CSA is great news for our customers. We have complementary product lines and the companies have a shared value system..... [T]ogether...we will continue to serve the research community with the same dedication and with renewed strength." In a press release from CIG, its president, Andrew M. Snyder noted that the combination of "Proquest's unparalleled collections with CSA's own rich content will enable us to further build upon our mission of delivering exceptional research service."

PQIL product brands include Chadwyck-Healey, UMI, Micromedia ProQuest, Serials Solutions, SIRS, and eLibrary. CIG's operating companies are CSA, R.R. Bowker, RefWorks, and Corporate Educational Services, owner of the Sotheby's Institute of Art. It is also the largest shareholder of Navtech, Inc., the mapping system that powers Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, and others.