The low roar you heard March 26 was the cheering of researchers everywhere — that's when ProQuest released its updated Periodical Source Index (PERSI) to libraries that subscribe to the company's HeritageQuest Online <www.heritagequestonline.com> genealogy databases.

PERSI is the top tool for researching the contents of genealogical journals and newsletters. It indexes articles in more than 6,000 periodicals published since 1800 in the United States and Canada. Staff at Indiana's Allen County Public Library (ACPL) <www.acpl.lib.in.us>, which houses that impressive periodicals collection, create PERSI. ProQuest bought exclusive rights to the index in June 2003.