The completely rebuilt Dialog information service made its official debut at the Special Libraries Association Conference in San Diego. Now called ProQuest Dialog, the service reinvents a classic resource making its rich, unique content – about a billion documents – accessible for the first time to searchers of all skill levels. Three intuitive search modes in the same interface enable content from the world's most authoritative publishers to be quickly pinpointed and delivered in ready-to-use form.
Dialog was the first commercial online information service, launched decades in advance of the Internet under the visionary leadership of Roger K. Summit. Dialog became a foundation for information professionals and researchers around the world who relied on the broad content collection and command line searching. Until now, using Dialog has required intensive training and practice, leaving it inaccessible to a new generation of users. Further, the underlying product architecture was not adaptable. Over the years and through a series of acquisitions, multiple attempts to update Dialog occurred, but all were hampered by the complexity of functionality and content.
ProQuest Dialog provides a search mode for researchers at every skill level - from novice to expert information professional - with sophisticated tools that refine results and output to support a variety of workflows. Users have flexibility in pricing and content, choosing collections that best meet their needs and payment plans that include transactional and subscription packages.
The unparalleled global customer support to which Dialog customers have grown accustomed continues, with expert assistance to support research needs at every step, including search consultation, alert set up, technical support, and specialised training.
Since initial deployment of a core scientific collection for DataStar customers in 2012, ProQuest Dialog has been under intensive development with a dedicated technology team. In-depth customer feedback has been used in solidifying functionality and adding Dialog-specific content and features. ProQuest Dialog will be 'migration ready' in July. Account management and support teams will actively work with customers to transition to the new service by the end of the year, when the legacy system will be retired.
