Dialog (online database)

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Dialog is an online information service owned by Thomson Corporation The earliest form of the Dialog system was completed in 1966 under the direction of Roger K. Summit. According to its literature, it was "the world's first online information retrieval system to be used globally with materially significant databases". '

Dialog is a major aggregator of content from reputable publishers, including news feeds, broadcast transcripts, articles from newspapers and magazines, financial analysis information, references, and research and technical data. Dialog's collection of over 900 databases provides more than 15 terabytes of content, and handles more than 700,000 searches and delivers over 17 million document page views per month.

The initial search interface was a command-line search from dial-up terminals using telephone lines. As commercial networks developed, and then the internet faster searching became possible, and a variety of interfaces has been developed. It is still available with a command-line interface over the web, and is used in that format by professional users who know the commands and value the speed, and by library schools, desiring to show the basic operation. There are several varieties of screen-based interfaces for the general user, and specialized ones that do not even require the searcher to know the particular databases.

Among its strong points are the ability to specify in detail the search fields, to simultaneously search many databases--even the entire collection, to merge the results, and to provide results in a variety of specialized table formats. Among its weak points are the unavailability of some major subject databases, and the fee structure: users are charged for each search by a formula combining length of session, CPU use, but primarily the number and format of results. A short search of common databases producing 20-30 results will cost between $20 and $100, and much higher for some special fields. It is now rarely used by libraries, because it is more cost-effective in such a setting to use databases where the library pays a fixed subscription. It is very popular among professional searchers, who bill the charges to the ultimate customer.

Many of Dialog's recent business challenges can be attributed to the proliferation of the Internet, facilitating the dramatic growth of additional competitive online database services, and its marketing strategy concentrating on commercial special libraries and independent information brokers.