ANN ARBOR, Mich., June 13, 2003 - ProQuest Information and Learning offers expanded searching capabilities and new content in its premier medieval resources, Acta Sanctorum and Patrologia Latina Database. Scholars will gain unprecedented opportunities to expand their research using the combined resources of the two databases. ProQuest Company’s (NYSE:PQE) Information and Learning unit produces and distributes databases for educational institutions and libraries around the world.

Searched together, the Acta Sanctorum and Patrologia Latina Database help researchers use their time more effectively and make substantial key medieval material available for study. Both offer users access to rare texts, the ability to explore new areas of research and greatly reduce the time required to carry out searches. Both now feature Unicode functionality for displaying non-standard characters in the databases. Instructions for downloading relevant fonts and browsers to gain full Unicode compliance are available on each database.

The Patrologia Latina Database is an electronic version of the first edition of Jacques-Paul Mignes’ Patrologia Latina, published between 1844 and 1855, with indexes. It encompasses the works of the Church Fathers from Tertullian in 200 AD to the death of Pope Innocent III in 1216. The Acta Sanctorum database is an electronic version of the complete printed text of Acta Sanctorum, from the edition published in sixty-eight volumes by the Société des Bollandistes in Antwerp and Brussels. The collection of rare documents examines the lives of saints, organized according to each saint's feast day, and runs from the two January volumes published in 1643 to the Propylaeum to December published in 1940.

Reference numbers from Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina, a scholarly guide created for Acta Sanctorum, are now included in both databases, enabling direct comparison of textual passages.  Brill's edition of Jan Frederik Niermeyer's Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minor has also been added for users of both services. It provides easy reference to this essential resource of Medieval Latin studies and is not available in any other electronic format.

Several more enhancements make Patrologia Latina Database easier, quicker and more effective for researchers to use, including a new interface with new navigation, features and functionality. It now offers a Greek keyword search in the online version.

Institutions that own both Acta Sanctorum and Patrologia Latina Database may pay a small additional web access fee to search simultaneously across the two databases, allowing users to find entries on search terms that are included in both.

Free trials 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.

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