In addition, customers will save time and increase their efficiency since one will not need to learn different commands that are a part of learning a new system. Direct is designed for business managers, executives, librarians, professional researchers, students and others who need relevant answers to their questions. ProQuest Direct combines powerful and convenient searching with simple and efficient document delivery in a single package. With ProQuest Direct customers can search for answers to their questions from UMI's and DataTimes' vast and constantly expanding information treasury of journals, periodicals, dissertations, magazines, newspapers, financial information and electronic data feeds. That information can then be delivered immediately and directly to one's desktop, printed locally or faxed to another location.
Customers pay only for the actual data they view, print or have delivered.
The Publisher's Role Agreements between UMI and publishers determine the level of information available. If an article is not offered in a particular format, a gray icon is displayed on the computer screen so the user knows instantly he or she can not obtain information in that format. Direct can also be used to have information from outside UMI's vast archives delivered to corporations, schools and libraries on a transaction basis from UMI InfoStore TM . As a result of an agreement earlier this year with Netscape Communications, access to ProQuest Direct via the Web is now possible using a Web browser. Although any Web browser may be used, access to ProQuest Direct via the Web is optimized for Netscape Navigator, version 2.0.