 HighBeam Research logo used in February 2004 | |
| Owner | Gale (Cengage) |
|---|---|
| URL | highbeam.com |
| Launched | August 2002; 22 years ago (2002-08) |
| Current status | Defunct |
Content license | Copyright All rights reserved |
HighBeam Research was a paidsearch engine and full text online archive owned byGale, a subsidiary ofCengage, for thousands ofnewspapers,magazines,academic journals, newswires,trade magazines, andencyclopedias in English.[1] It was headquartered inChicago, Illinois.[2] In late 2018, the archive was shut down.
The company was established in August 2002 afterPatrick Spain, who had just soldHoover's, which he had co-founded, boughteLibrary andEncyclopedia.com fromTucows. The new company was called Alacritude, LLC (a combination of Alacrity and Attitude). ELibrary had a library of 1,200 newspaper, magazine and radio/TV transcript archives that were generally not freely available.[3] Original investors included Prism Opportunity Fund of Chicago and 1 to 1 Ventures ofStamford, Connecticut. Spain stated, "There was a glaring gap between free search likeGoogle and high-end offerings likeLexisNexis andFactiva."[4]
Later in 2002, it bought Researchville.com. By 2003, it had increased its archive base to articles from 2,600 publishers. In 2004, it was renamed HighBeam Research. In 2005, it increased its publisher base to 3,500 publishers. In 2006,Oxford University Press,Knight Ridder andThe Washington Post archives were added. In 2008, it was purchased byGale, a subsidiary ofCengage.[5] Highbeam featured many articles by the UK basedTrinity Mirror Group.
Highbeam Research shut down in late 2018 after 16 years. When they did so, all of their content was added toQuestia.[6]
| Academic and professional |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Gale | ||
| Other | ||