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Dialog to Sponsor New SLA Chapter Award for Australian & New Zealand Information Professionals

"Looking For Agents of Change"

SYDNEY (27 January 2005) — Dialog, a Thomson (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC) business and a leading worldwide provider of online-based information services and integrated information solutions, announced today that it will sponsor a new annual award recognising information professionals that will be given by the Australia/New Zealand chapter of the Special Libraries Association (SLA).

The new SLA Australia & New Zealand Information Professional Award will carry a prize of AUD$2,000.00.

Full-time information professionals, such as corporate librarians, independent information consultants, knowledge managers and others, working and living in Australia or New Zealand are eligible to be nominated for the award. Individuals may nominate themselves or others. A panel of SLA Australia and New Zealand Chapter board members and regional Dialog management will determine the winner.

Nominations should be initiated by directing an e-mail to . The deadline is 1 May 2005. The first award, for 2005, will be announced at an upcoming information industry conference.

"There are many top notch information professionals in Australia and New Zealand, and companies increasingly are recognising the strategic role those individuals play. No doubt, making the decision to designate just one individual as our first award winner will be difficult," said SLA Chapter President Susan Henczel, a training manager with CAVAL Ltd., a consortium of libraries in Victoria. "Our goal is to help the entire profession continue its growth in both countries by spotlighting achievements of the best."

Henczel added that specific criteria for the award include a track record of developing innovative uses of information within a business or organisation.

"We're looking for agents of change," she said.

Added Liz Blankson-Hemans, Dialog director of international information professional development: "We're delighted to be working with the Australia and New Zealand chapter of SLA to launch this exciting new recognition programme. In all of our markets around the world, Dialog is committed to helping information professionals gain increased recognition for the important contributions they make."

Dialog first started providing professional development services in 1976 and today sponsors a number of support and educational initiatives worldwide, including other recognition programmes, scholarships, training seminars, online tutorials and more.

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About SLA
The Special Libraries Association (SLA) is a nonprofit global organisation for innovative information professionals and their strategic partners. SLA serves more than 12,000 members in 83 countries in the information profession, including corporate, academic and government information specialists. SLA promotes and strengthens its members through learning, advocacy, and networking initiatives. Visit SLA on the Web at www.sla.org.

About Dialog and the Thomson Corporation
Dialog, a pioneer in developing the technology behind electronic information retrieval, is the world leader in providing online-based information services to organisations seeking competitive advantages in such fields as business, science, engineering, finance and law.

Today, the online services provided by Dialog — offered through the Dialog®, Dialog Profound®, Dialog DataStar®, Dialog NewsEdge® and Dialog Intelliscope^SM 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.

Information professionals and end-users at business, professional and government organisations in more than 100 countries prize Dialog services for their depth and breadth of content, precision searching and speed.

Based in Cary, N.C., USA, Dialog has operations in 27 countries. Dialog (www.dialog.com) is a business of The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC). With 2003 revenues of US$7.6 billion, Thomson (www.thomson.com) is a global leader in providing integrated information solutions to business and professional customers.

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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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