ProQuest Acquires WebFeat

ProQuest gave itself a great big Valentine's gift, announcing February 14 the purchase of WebFeat, which will be merged with its Serials Solutions unit under general manager Jane Burke. ProQuest said a new platform incorporating the respective strengths of both “will debut early in 2009.”

Burke told LJ that she is looking forward to working with WebFeat's “wonderfully talented” staff. While federated search has problems, Burke said, “it has become a necessity.” As libraries buy more databases, they need a tool that enables them to find out what's inside. “Today, good federated search is what you need to do that,” she said. “The WebFeat staff understand this space, understand this problem.”

She added that WebFeat has developed “wonderful technologies” that complement Serials Solutions' own. “When we looked at the two product lines side by side, we felt we really have the opportunity to meld these two into a best-of-breed platform,” she said. Burke offered the example of Serials Solutions' 360 Search, which has good results handling, while WebFeat has “wonderful systems for setting up and administering these things”; WebFeat also “has been really serious” about usage statistics. “We have the ability here to get some complementary functionalities together,” Burke said.

Lastly, Serials Solutions welcomes the opportunity to work with WebFeat customers, many of which already use Serials Solutions. “This is a chance to broaden our reach in those libraries,” said Burke. “Some of these customers are large consortia or statewide deals, which, for the most part, have not been where we've put 360 Search, so that's good, too.”