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Dialog Re-enters Document Delivery Market with Broader Array of Documents Available

Company's SourceOne^SM Expanded to Include Scholarly Journals, Other New Sources; Delivery Options Improved

CARY, N.C., USA — August 8, 2002 — Dialog, a Thomson (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC) business and a leading worldwide provider of online-based information services and integrated information solutions, announced today its re-entry into the document delivery market. Dialog has vastly expanded the number and diversity of sources from which articles and reports can be ordered, and improved the delivery process for documents, including patent documents from around the world.

An unparalleled array of articles, reports and other documents can now be ordered from more than 10,000 scholarly and professional journals. Other available documents include legal materials, government reports, standards and specifications published by professional organizations, and reports issued by the United Nations.

Dialog also is now offering an advanced one-on-one reference service to locate hard-to-find titles not available from primary sources.

The document delivery service offers an article or report in its full form, either in high quality electronic format or as a photocopy, including charts and graphs that appear in the original printed document. Receiving editorial materials via a document delivery service (as opposed to electronic retrieval of the text portion only) is important to intellectual property attorneys, engineers, new product specialists, competitive intelligence managers, information professionals and others who need to see the visual data.

“Expanding our document delivery service is a tremendous convenience to our customers,” said Paul Colucci, Dialog senior vice president of product development. “Searchers are now able to utilize Dialog’s extensive indexing to perform bibliographic searches, check abstracts to pinpoint documents of interest, and then order copies of the original documents, all through their Dialog accounts and with single invoicing. We’ve made it easier for our users to complete the entire cycle seamlessly.

“For many of our users, especially those in the science, medical and technology arenas, the visual data is as important as the text itself,” Colucci added.

Among the highlights of Dialog’s re-entry into the document delivery market announced today are:

• An expanded Dialog SourceOne^SM document ordering service, which now includes the more than 10,000 scholarly and professional journals and other sources from around the world. Users of Dialog®-branded services can now access Dialog SourceOne 6.0 to order from the expanded content pool. Delivery options include by mail, express mail or fax. PDF format via e-mail link is also an option, where available.
  
  Dialog SourceOne users who opt for electronic delivery may receive their articles, patents or other documents in PDF format where available. Once a document is retrieved from a content source (such as a primary publisher’s own electronic archive, or one maintained by an intermediary), the SourceOne service generates a link, sent to the document buyer via e-mail, which when activated opens the retrieved document in full-text PDF format. From there, the document may be downloaded or printed.
  
  
• Improvements to SourceOne’s ordering process for patent documents. Users of Dialog’s services that utilize command line searching (such as Dialog®Classic, Dialog®Web and DialogClassic Web™) now can use a new extension to the “order” command to order from search sets. This improvement speeds up the ordering process because users are no longer required to re-type citation data.
  
  
• New price plans have also been added that allow customers to purchase patent documents on a subscription basis. Users now have additional flexibility in determining the subscription pricing that best meets their needs.
  
  

Dialog continues to offer its customers who prefer using command lines to initiate their searches (as opposed to using menu-driven forms) a comprehensive electronic portfolio of patent information, aggregating materials from 90 countries.

Of the more than 10,000 scholarly and professional journals from which articles and reports can be ordered, 71 percent are from 1990 forward, with 29 percent originally published prior to 1990 – including some stretching back to 1850.

Per-document delivery charges, including appropriate copyright fees, apply for all materials ordered through Dialog’s document delivery service.

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About Dialog
Founded in 1972 by Dr. Roger K. Summit, a pioneer in developing the technology behind electronic information retrieval, Dialog is the world leader in providing online-based information services to organizations seeking competitive advantages in such fields as business, science, engineering, finance and law.

Today, Dialog's online services – offered through the Dialog®, Dialog Profound®, Dialog DataStar™, NewsEdge and Intelligence Data brands – give users the ability to precisely retrieve data from more than 1.4 billion unique records, accessible via the Internet or through delivery to enterprise intranets. Searchable content includes articles and reports from thousands of real-time news feeds, newspapers, broadcast transcripts and trade publications, plus research reports and analyst notes providing support for financial decision-making, as well as in-depth repositories of scientific and technical data, patents, trademarks and other intellectual property data.

Corporate librarians, knowledge managers, other information professionals and end-users at more than 25,000 business, professional and government organizations in more than 100 countries prize Dialog services for their depth and breadth of content, precision searching and speed.

Headquartered in Cary, N.C., USA, with direct operations in 31 other countries worldwide, Dialog is a business of The Thomson Corporation. For more information about Dialog, please visit www.dialog.com. Or, please call (U.S./Canada) 800-3-DIALOG or (U.S.) 919-462-8600. Dialog's London office may be reached at (44) (0) 207-940-6900.

About The Thomson Corporation
The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), with 2001 revenues of US$7.2 billion, is a global leader in providing integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. Thomson provides value-added information, software applications and tools to more than 20 million users in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher education, reference information, corporate training and assessment, scientific research and healthcare. The Corporation's common shares are listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC).

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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 with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. All other marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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