27 Commercial Databases - Information Venues part 2 (Information Research)
Description
This article is from the Information Research FAQ, by David Novak david@spireproject.com with numerous contributions by others.
27 Commercial Databases - Information Venues part 2 (Information Research)
A list of database retailers follow.
* The Dialog Corporation (http://www.dialog.com), a merger of Dialog,
Datastar and M.A.I.D. The largest database retailer by far, the
databases are general.
* Lexis-Nexis especially carries full text and legal research
databases.
* Questel/Orbit specializes in patent and technical science databases
* EINS (European Information Network Services) appears offer discount
access to technical databases.
* Infomart Dialog (Canada) has Canadian coverage with many of the
Dialog databases.
* FT Profile is the information wing of Financial Times (UK).
There are further database retailers specifically focused on the
library market like OCLC's FirstSearch. Further databases are focused
on business needs, like DowJones and Dun & Bradstreet.
In addition, there are always the individual databases which undertake
the difficult task of retailing by themselves.
Conclusion
Databases are complex structures based on the inverted index and on a
range of search technologies including Boolean terms, truncation,
complex limits, descriptors, filters, ranking and more. Certainly the
technology is becoming easier to use (look at the Reuters Business
Briefing for state of the art), but there is still much to learn. An
experienced searcher will locate far better results than a novice.
However, an uninvolved searcher has a handicap, both in price and
language. Sometimes it is wise to get help searching a database,
sometimes it is not.
The commercial database industry is shifting to use the internet as the
preferred delivery vehicle. Considerable changes are coming too - not
the least a tumble in the price of information.
Another change is a move towards full text databases. Some databases
include only bibliographic information, many provide abstracts, but
only a small fraction include full text. This will frustrate you deeply
as full text databases are so very very convenient.
Researching databases is incredibly difficult and cumbersome. They
challenge the mind, stretch far beyond the simple skills of searching
the internet, and since every minute is expensive, there is much added
pressure.
But this is a skill like any other. Practice with the databases of your
local research university at an off-peak time (mornings are good) and
using the CD-ROM versions - learn on something free and not 2$ a
minute.
A database is a collection of anything - meaning a database blissfully
passes on the chaos for us to deal with rather than presenting a more
logical/understandable front like the web (humour intended). This
character has also blurred the contours of a database. Most small
databases are merely digested versions of small books and directories,
often made available to you at 50 cents a page. Of course, large
databases are just hard to conceive, let alone describe.
Word-searchable libraries? World knowledge snapshots? Commercial
information marketing firms go further and group similar databases
together into massive multi-database topic searches with phenomenal
power.
A Myriad of Databases
A primary difficulty comes from the sheer number of databases in
existence today. To get a feel for the size of this industry, stop by a
large library and ask for the Gale Directory of Databases Volume 1: the
partially definitive listing of global databases. The absolute number
will astound you. This also explains why some of us are so excited
about internet development. Just making the existing databases more
easily available will transform our society. The Information age is
just starting.
Database Quality
All research is guided by the resources at hand. Most amateur
researchers suffer because they have very few resources at hand (or
think they do). Research is also guided by the budget, the time and
perhaps the skill. When selecting research databases, try to be aware
of three further factors:
Coverage
Research here is easiest on Australian, British and American resources.
This may be unfortunate or of little consequence, but does bear
consideration. Many large databases are also large only because of
their range of information. Which is better, searching 6000 magazines
or 600 business magazines. Depends on the research topic.
Definitive
There are many databases which can claim definitive coverage but there
are many more which should be kept in reserve. Just like the internet,
a researcher is not expected to look at everything relevant, just
enough to get to the solution.
Size
Global Textline was a database of phenomenal size, indexing text from
over a hundred newspapers globally, reaching back many years.
Australian Education Index (AEI) includes the contents of a small book
of Education related theses abstracts. Each topic may only include 10
relevant theses over 5 years. Size is a thus linked to database value.
Searching Global Textline will always turn up leads. AEI will not.
Selecting a Database
Despite the factual nature of information research, word of mouth
appears to be tremendously important in choosing databases. Some guides
do describe the quality of various databases, and make valuable
suggestions, but such guides also age rapidly as new products emerge. A
rough understanding may emerge with practice. Our advice appears in
other articles.
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