Dialog's GEP is a professional development initiative that's designed to help future librarians prepare to use online information services as they assume their jobs in libraries, schools, and businesses around the world. The program offers graduate library schools access to Dialog services and specialized training materials.

The program was rolled out in January in the U.S. and Canada. Interested library school administrators should contact Liz Blankson-Hemans, Dialog's London-basedmanager of information professional development, at liz.blankson-hemans@dialog.com.

The expansion of the GEP is the latest in a series of enhancements to the program. For example, the company now offers its Dialog DataStar and Dialog Profound services for student training and practice as part of the GEP.

Dialog recently also added to the GEP its Dialog Intranet Toolkit, a service that helps companies relay external data across their enterprisewide information systems.

Blankson-Hemans noted that the addition of Dialog DataStar would be especially helpful for graduate library students preparing for careers in the pharmaceutical and biomedical industries. "Dialog DataStar is known among information professionals as the world's leading source of content relevant in the pharmaceuticals and the biomedical arenas. The service is particularly well-known in European markets," she said. "But until now library schools have not had the means to readily make Dialog DataStar available to students as part of an industry-specific training regime. The addition of Dialog DataStar to the GEP fills that gap."

Source: Dialog Corp., Cary, NC, 800/3-DIALOG, 919/462-8600; http://www.dialog.com.