his connection with the information industry began in 1961 as a sales representative with the xerox corporation. in 1964, he became manager of sales promotion at university microfilms international (umi) which had been acquired by xerox in 1961. umi was a pioneer in the field of micropublishing, and one of the most significant players in the field. in 1990 eugene b. power, the founder of umi, acknowledged asleson’s pioneering role in setting up sales and marketing for the company. in 1967, asleson became president of umi. the company later became proquest, it remains one of the largest vendors in the field with revenues in excess of $350m (2010) and more than 2 billion pages of archival materials.