EBSCO Canada, Ltd., a subsidiary of EBSCO Industries, Inc., (EBSCO) the global leader for the delivery of integrated information systems and services, has completed the acquisition of certain assets of RoweCom's Canadian subscription operations, Divine Solutions, ULC, operating under the trade names of RoweCom, Faxon and Divine, hereinafter referred to as "RoweCom."

Following RoweCom's bankruptcy filing earlier this year, letters were sent to all of the publishers (approximately 25,000) with whom RoweCom U.S., RoweCom Australia and RoweCom Canada has a business relationship to solicit their support (participation) in a "Pre-paid Order Agreement." When a publisher agrees to participate in this agreement, they agree to fulfill subscriptions to their publications for which a RoweCom customer paid RoweCom, but for which the publisher did not receive payment. In exchange for agreeing to send issues, publishers are to receive the equivalent of the RoweCom customer's claim on the bankrupt estates to the extent of the value of the subscriptions they have agreed to fulfill. Requests for similar treatment will be made by/or on behalf of publishers who agree to participate in servicing RoweCom Canada's customers. To effect this exchange and to receive the full benefit of said publisher participation, library creditors of RoweCom Canada should execute the assignment of their claim to participating publishers. The mechanics of how this works are more fully described in the next paragraph and subsequent example.

Letters are being sent to all customers of RoweCom Canada. The purpose of these letters is to ascertain if a RoweCom Canada customer who currently has a claim against the bankrupt Divine Solutions, ULC estate (i.e., had paid RoweCom for journal orders for which payment was never forwarded to publishers) would agree to participate by assigning their bankruptcy claims to publishers agreeing to participate. RoweCom Canada customers would only be agreeing to exchange their claims to the extent publishers agree to fulfill issues. See the following example:

Assume a customer ordered and paid for 10 titles each costing $100.00 for a total payment of $1,000.00 previously made to RoweCom Canada. Assume a different publisher publishes each title so there are 10 publishers. Assume RoweCom Canada paid none of the publishers. Finally, assume seven of the 10 publishers agree to participate.

The customer initially has a claim on the Divine Solutions, ULC estate equal to $1,000.00. Should the customer decide to sign the letter and assign their claim in exchange for issues, they would receive issues for seven of their 10 journals (the journals of the seven participating publishers). They would not receive graced issues for the journals of the three non-participating publishers but would retain their bankruptcy claim related to the value of the three journals ($300.00).

It is critical that customers reply promptly in order to ensure publishers are properly notified which customers are participating (are to receive graced issues). Customers of RoweCom Canada are requested to return their letters no later than May 15, 2003.

The publisher communication process is being managed by Kurtzman Carson Consultants, LLC (Kurtzman). As publishers sign on to participate, Kurtzman is posting the names of the participating publishers to its Web site www.kccllc.net/rowecom.

Once publishers and customers have responded, the responses will be cross-matched to determine the exact publications publishers have agreed to deliver to each participating customer. These details will be supplied to participating customers. Likewise, publishers will be supplied details of the journal orders they have agreed to fulfill and the associated customers to receive these journals. Further information including frequently asked questions and answers are available on the RoweCom Web site at www.faxon.com and on the Kurtzman Web site at www.kccllc.net/rowecom.

Release Date: April 11, 2003