From:   Teri Harrison (HARRISON@FAXON.COM)
Date:   20-SEP-1995 10:05:05.49
To:     Fritz Schwartz
Subj:   Faxon 1996 Serials Price Projections on Target

For Immediate Release

Faxon Reports Actual 1996 Journal Price
Increases in Line with Earlier Projections

Westwood, MA, September 19, 1995 - With many 1996 publisher price lists now in
hand, Faxon has analyzed actual journal subscription price increases versus its
projections made earlier this year.  The actual 1996 subscription price
increases correspond to the projections, showing high increases for European
journals due to a weak US dollar.

The last projections, made in June 1995, are provided below, along with
preliminary actual increases based on publisher price lists received to date:

                                June 1995               Actual
                                Projections             Preliminary

     North American Titles         10.5%                10-11%
     Continental European Titles   23.5%                24%
     UK Titles                     15%                  14%

     Typical Overall
     Collection Increase          14.8%    14.5%

"As we predicted earlier in the year, the weakness of the US dollar against the
continental European currencies is largely responsible for high increases for
journals from those countries," said Ron Akie, Senior Vice President of
Marketing.  "We saw the same effect in 1991 and 1993, other years when the
dollar weakened."

While the US dollar has strengthened very recently, this will only affect
European journals where publishers set the price in their own currency and let
the exchange rate float with market rates.  These are primarily smaller
publishers whose journals make up a small portion of most US library
collections.  Therefore, the dollar's strengthening so late in the year will
have little net impact for most clients.  The larger European publishers either
set their prices in US dollars or fix the exchange rate earlier in the year.

The detailed breakdown of price increases by component from Faxon's June 1995
projection is provided below:

                        N. American     Continental     UK
                        Titles          European        Titles
     Page Inflation        2.5%          3.0%             2.0%
     Paper/Postage         3.0%          3.0%             3.0%
     General Inflation     2.5%          2.0%             2.0%
     Cancellations         2.5%          3.0%             3.0%
     Currency Changes      N/A          12.5%             5.0%

     Total Increase     10.5%           23.5%            15.0%

Typical overall increase      14.8%

The Faxon Company, Inc., which provides a wide range of subscription management
services to libraries and information centers in academic, medical, business
and government communities, is a subsidiary of Dawson Holdings PLC, a
publicly-traded, worldwide supplier of information services.

Contact:  Teri Harrison Wilson, Manager, Marketing Communications
The Faxon Company, Inc., 15 Southwest Park, Westwood, MA  02090
617-329-3350, ext. 764 / fax: 617-329-8987
Internet:  harrison@faxon.com