Facts on File has acquired Ferguson Publishing Company, the Chicago-based publisher of career education titles. Terms of the acquisition, which involved approximately 135 titles, were not disclosed.

The Ferguson name will be retained as an imprint of Facts on File, and the company will move its own career education books under the imprint, said Paul Conklin, director of sales for Facts on File. Ferguson's best-known products, which are aimed at the school and library market, are its four-volume Encyclopedia of Careers and Vocational Guidance and the eight-volume Career Discovery Encyclopedia.

Conklin said Facts on File will continue to revise the two reference lines as well as many of Ferguson's book series such as Ferguson Career Biographies, Discovering Careers for Your Future and Career Skills Library. "Conklin said the Ferguson purchase will give a big boost to Facts on File—which publishes about 150 print, online and CD-ROM titles annually—in 2003. He said sales in 2002 were flat with 2001, which he called an "outstanding year."