HOUSTON (August 3, 2005) – Augusta Preparatory Day School (APDS) in Martinez has purchased 290 subscriptions to Questia Media, Inc., the world's largest online academic library and research service. The subscriptions give the students access to 60,000 full-text books, more than one million journal, magazine, and newspaper articles and a comprehensive suite of research tools.
With Questia, school districts can affordably supplement and grow their current library collections for a fraction of the cost of purchasing physical materials and can use Questia to extend the physical library's reach, capability and availability.
"School libraries are a fundamental and effective resource in every child's education," said Anthony Shaffer, director of technology at APDS. "In order for our students to keep pace, a real shift needs to occur in how students are able to access information. Questia's library provides new and better research solutions for students, and ultimately transforms the educational experience by enabling students to customize their personal library space and do higher quality work with 21 st century research tools."
Questia's online resource materials support many secondary school curriculum topics, offering coverage of the top reading resources to which students are expected to be exposed. With the online academic library, students can quickly and easily set their own workspace and reading preferences, create project folders and personal bookshelves and automatically develop properly formatted footnotes and bibliographies in seven different citation styles. In addition, t he digital library solves the problems associated with lost books and limited quantities of research materials. Questia's service enables an unlimited number of simultaneous users of books and articles and provides complete freedom and mobility.
"With Questia, no book is ever checked out," continued Shaffer . "That means students are never frustrated by a missing or damaged library book. And teachers are never short materials for multiple classes. In fact, Questia not only enables widespread accessibility, but also mobility - students can conduct research 24/7 - they are not limited to the hours of the school library."About Questia
Questia Media, Inc. provides the world's largest online academic library and research resource. Students, instructors, and lifelong learners in more than 190 countries use Questia's collection of full-text, copyrighted books and articles for scholarly research.
A digital toolkit enables researchers to highlight text, properly cite passages, and automatically generate bibliographies and footnotes. In addition, Questia provides a personalized workspace for each user, complete with an individual bookshelf and reference resources. Designed for use by educators and students to enhance curricula, the Questia service also includes the Questia Classroom, a teacher/student resource center that integrates the digital library content into class instruction.
Questia's unlimited, 24/7 access allows researchers to simultaneously use every item in its online, scholarly library from any connected corner of the world.
Founded in 1998, Questia Media is based in Houston. For more information, visit http://www.questia.com/.