Press Room

Thomson Gale’s New Small Business Resource Center Provides Entrepreneurs with Tools to Start and Run Businesses

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., Dec. 19, 2006 – Thomson Gale, part of the Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC), announces the release of Small Business Resource Center.

According to the Small Business Association’s Office of Advocacy *, small businesses represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms. With nearly 700,000 new businesses opening in 2006, the need for information on starting and running a business has never been greater. Libraries are often the first place entrepreneurs look when researching competitors, funding sources and business plans; in fact, two of the most commonly searched topics in today’s libraries are “small businesses” and “entrepreneurship.”

To meet this growing demand, Thomson Gale worked closely with an advisory board comprised of librarians at top public and academic libraries that serve small business patrons to create Small Business Resource Center, a comprehensive database offering content that covers all major areas of starting and operating a business, including accounting, finance, human resources, management, marketing, tax and more.

From conducting industry research to financial planning, Small Business Resource Center houses an unmatched combination of periodical and reference content for use by business students and current and future entrepreneurs. Easy to search and highly intuitive, Small Business Resource Center allows users to search subjects, keywords or entire documents. They also can link directly to pre-compiled information based on popular business topics and types, sample business plans and answers to the most frequently asked questions from a “How To” menu.

Small Business Resource Center features dozens more resources, including titles from John Wiley & Sons, publisher of the well-known “For Dummies” series; Portable MBA in Strategy, 2nd Ed.; The 7 Irrefutable Rules of Small Business Growth; Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship; the entire Business Plans Handbook Series, which contains hundreds of sample business plans created by real-life entrepreneurs; the Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources ; Encyclopedia of Management and Small Business Management – A Framework for Success.

Small Business Resource Center also includes a number of business journals – both specialty/vertical market and general business – such as: Better Asset Management; Black Enterprise; Consumer Comments; Direct Marketing; Financial Management; The Tax Adviser and many more.

For more information or to obtain reviewer access, contact Vanessa Birch at vanessa.birch@cengage.com.

* The SBA’s Office of Advocacy was created by an act of Congress in 1976 to protect, strengthen, and effectively represent the nation’s small businesses within the federal government. As part of this mandate, the office conducts policy studies and economic research on issues of concern to small business and publishes data on small business characteristics and contributions. For instant access to small business resources, statistics, and research, visit the Office of Advocacy’s home page at http://www.sba.gov/advo.

About The Thomson Corporation and Thomson Gale

The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), with 2005 revenues of $8.70 billion, is a global leader in providing integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. Thomson provides value-added information, software tools and applications to more than 20 million users in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher education, reference information, corporate e-learning and assessment, scientific research and healthcare. With operational headquarters in Stamford, Conn., Thomson has approximately 40,000 employees and provides services in approximately 130 countries. The Corporation's common shares are listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC). Thomson 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. It 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 – books and eBooks, databases and microfilm.