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Dialog Launches Graduate Education Program, Appoints MLIS Consultants

CARY, NC, USA, January 7, 2002 -- The Dialog Corporation, a Thomson business and a leading worldwide provider of online-based information services, today announced the launch of its Graduate Education Program (GEP) and the appointment of two librarian training specialists to serve graduate library schools as field training consultants.

Dialog also said today that as part of the GEP, the company has established a learning alliance with the Association of Library and Information Science Educators (ALISE).

Dialog's GEP is designed to help future librarians prepare to use online information services as they take up their jobs in libraries, schools and businesses around the world. The program, which is being rolled out across North America this year and elsewhere in 2003, furthers Dialog's strategy of proactively supporting information professionals worldwide.

The two highly experienced librarian educators appointed to work with library school faculties in North America are Allison Evatt, based in Atlanta, Georgia, and Heidi G. Porth, based in Austin, Texas.

"We are delighted that Heidi and Allison have decided to further their library careers by joining Dialog in this important effort," said Libby Trudell, Dialog senior vice president of information professional market development. "Since 1976, Dialog has offered instructional support to assist future library professionals in their studies. With the launch of the Graduate Education Program, we are providing additional resources to not only help library school faculty offer Dialog online searching in appropriate courses, but also to incorporate new capabilities such as the Dialog Intranet Toolkit into their curriculums."

The Dialog Intranet Toolkit helps companies relay external information across their enterprise-wide computer systems.

Support for ALISE

Dialog's GEP offers graduate students seeking MLIS (Master of Library & Information Sciences) degrees and faculty at library schools advanced training, dedicated materials and workbooks for use in learning online information retrieval skills, support for distance learning initiatives and membership in Dialog's professional development program (called Quantum2). Up to $120,000 per year of free use of Dialog online services is available for MLIS students enrolled at a qualified cooperating library school.

Dialog is also supporting ALISE through its Roger K. Summit Scholarship program. Established in 1992 to honor Dr. Roger Summit, the founder of Dialog and a well-known pioneer in the online information industry, the scholarships are available to graduate students who have demonstrated keen interest in electronic information resources. In 2002, there will be three awards of $5,000 each to students in North America, Europe and the Asian-Pacific region.

Dialog will also support ALISE through financial underwriting of events, including an upcoming members' reception at the ALISE conference in New Orleans later this month.

"ALISE is very pleased that Dialog will be such a strong presence at our 2002 conference in New Orleans," said Prudence Dalrymple, ALISE president. "Many of us value our long-term relationship with Dialog, as it facilitates a core function within our profession. While recognizing the long history and many contributions of Dialog to librarianship, we look forward to new products and services such as the Intranet Toolkit that support the expanded role of LIS professionals in society."

Dialog's MLIS Consultants

Allison Evatt, one of the MLIS consultants appointed by Dialog, most recently was a consultant for an information services company in Atlanta, where she led a project to improve usage and functionality of virtual library and intranet sites at a Fortune 100 client.

Previously, Evatt was a research analyst for Egon Zehnder International, a global management consulting firm located in Atlanta, where she provided information and marketing services to support new business development. Another previous position was with Deloitte & Touche LLP, in Atlanta, where she served as information specialist and research analyst.

Evatt holds a master's degree in information sciences from the University of Tennessee, a master's in education from Georgia State University and a bachelor's degree from Southern Methodist University.

Heidi Porth, also a new Dialog MLIS consultant, brings more than 14 years of experience in online information systems, research and training. Most recently on the faculty of the University of Texas Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Porth has created course outlines, syllabuses, searching exercises and projects for MLIS courses in online information skills. She has also taught seminars for corporate clients and at professional conferences.

Porth's previous employment includes research and information management positions with Questel.Orbit, Inc., Knight Ridder, 3M, The State of Alaska and the Juneau Public Library in Juneau, Alaska. Porth holds a MLIS from the University of Texas at Austin and bachelor's degree in biology from Western Washington University.

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About Dialog
Dialog is the worldwide leader in providing online-based information services to organizations seeking competitive advantages in such fields as business, science, engineering, finance and law. Its products and services, such as Dialog®, Profound® and DataStar™, offer organizations the ability to precisely retrieve data from more than 800 million unique records, accessible via the Internet or through delivery to enterprise Intranets. For almost three decades, Dialog's brands have been known for their breadth and depth of content, precision searching and speed. The Winter Corporation recently recognized Dialog for its breadth and depth of content when they named the company the Grand Prize-winner in the Database Scalability Program 2000.

Headquartered in Cary, N.C., USA, with direct operations in 30 countries, Dialog products are used by more than 20,000 corporate customers in over 100 countries. Dialog is a subsidiary of The Thomson Corporation, a leading global e-information and solutions company in the business and professional marketplace with 2000 revenues of approximately $6 billion. The Corporation's common shares are listed on the Toronto (TSE:TOC) and London stock exchanges.

For more information about Dialog, call 1-800-3-DIALOG or visit www.dialog.com. For more information about Thomson, visit www.thomson.com.

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All designated trademarks used herein are the property of The Dialog Corporation or its subsidiaries. Registered marks are registered by The Dialog Corporation or its subsidiaries, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. All other marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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