Swets Blackwell and Gale forge unique partnership in Australia andNew Zealand

[Ann Okerson <aokerson@pantheon.yale.edu>]

Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 15:18:39 +0200
From: Sarah Kellman <skellman@swets.nl>
Subject: Swets Blackwell and Gale forge unique partnership in Australia and 
New Zealand

PRESS RELEASE

Lisse, the Netherlands and Melbourne, Australia
July 22, 2003

Swets Blackwell and Gale forge unique partnership in Australia and New
Zealand

Swets Blackwell, the leading global subscription and information services
company, and Gale, a leader in library reference publishing and part of
The Thomson Corporation (TSX: TOC; NYSE: TOC), today announced the forming
of a special distribution agreement across Australia and New Zealand
(ANZ). Under the terms of the agreement, Melbourne-based Swets Blackwell
Australia will provide Gale electronic databases for the ANZ corporate,
health and special library markets. This unique distribution agreement is
effective from May 2003.

Individual and consortia sales of Gale databases will be Swets Blackwell
Australia's focus for the new partnership, specifically targeting
corporate, health and special libraries.  It will organize trials and
demonstrations of Gale products, and handle subscriptions and renewals.
Swets Blackwell customers in the ANZ region will see their offerings
enriched significantly through subscriptions to such databases as the
Health and Wellness Resource Center, Custom Journals and the (London)
Times Digital Archive.

Swets Blackwell Australia will offer customers technical support via its
recently launched Electronic Help Desk, and will act as a central point of
contact for customers using Gale and other products. Gale and Swets
Blackwell will co-attend conferences and organize joint road shows and
industry events to further promote their partnership.

Robert Iannello, Sales Manager for Gale Australia said: "We are pleased to
have Swets Blackwell represent Gale in the ANZ corporate, health and
special library market.  Gale has always been well known among academic
and public libraries, but less so in the special and corporate library
environment. With Swets Blackwell's experience and understanding of the
information needs of corporate and special libraries, Gale is now in a
position to redress this imbalance.  In turn, access to the Gale suite of
products now means that Swets Blackwell can provide special and corporate
libraries with a total e-journal and online reference solution."

Jay Glaisyer, Managing Director of Swets Blackwell Australia, commented:
"We are delighted to have the opportunity to promote and distribute Gale's
highly regarded and prestigious suite of electronic databases within the
corporate, health and special library sectors.  We are confident that this
exciting development will add significant value to the Swets Blackwell
offering to the benefit of our mutual customers, and further support our
strategy to be the leading provider of online content and consortia
management services globally and within the Australian and New Zealand
library community."

About The Thomson Corporation and Gale

The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), with 2002 revenues of $7.8
billion, is a global leader in providing integrated information solutions
to business and professional customers. The Corporation's common shares
are listed on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges (TSX: TOC-News;
NYSE:TOC-News). Its learning businesses and brands serve the needs of
individuals, learning institutions, corporations and government agencies
with products and services for both traditional and distributed learning.
Gale (www.gale.com) serves the world's information and education needs
through its vast and dynamic content pools, which are used by students and
consumers in their libraries, schools and on the Internet. The company is
best known for the accuracy, breadth and convenience of its data,
addressing all types of information needs - from homework help to health
questions to business profiles - in a variety of formats, including books,
web-based solutions and microfilm.

About Swets Blackwell

Swets Blackwell (www.swetsblackwell.com) is the world's largest
subscription agent, with offices in 23 countries on six continents. It
provides a wide variety of subscription management solutions for academic,
scientific, technical, medical, corporate and government libraries and
information centers worldwide. Founded in 1901, Swets Blackwell counts
among its 60,000 customers many of the world's major research libraries
and over 30% of the Fortune 500 companies. In recognition of the superior
service it provides, Swets Blackwell was granted ISO 9001:2000
accreditation.

# # #
Gale Media Contact
Robert Iannello
Sales Manager, Gale Australia
Phone: +61 (0)3 9685 4246
mailto:RobertIannello@thomsonlearning.com.au

Swets Blackwell Media Contacts		       
Natalie Blanchard				        
Sales Manager, Swets Blackwell Australia                   
Tel:  +61 (0)3 9655 3700	
mailto:nblanchard@au.swetsblackwell.com 		
		
Sarah Kellman
Communications Executive
Head Office - Lisse, The Netherlands
Tel: + 31 (0)252 435 584
mailto:press@nl.swetsblackwell.com