Computer Databases and Vendors

In this Section:

Chapter 20: Database

Database, which calls itself the magazine of electronic research and resources, is a fun magazine to read. It's well laid out at 115 pages or so and colorful with very informative articles. Two sections of the magazine are particularly useful: (1) "Business and Finance," and (2) "International Business & News."

The "Business and Finance" section offers new information about on-line opportunities from corporations, associations, and government sources. One example is the Coopers & Lybrand Lodging Research Network (www.lodgingresearch.com). This on-line information resource for lodging industry research features Coopers & Lybrand's economic forecasts, industry news, market profiles by city, a database of industry-specific real estate acquisitions, financial data of publicly traded lodging companies, new hotel construction data, lodging census and trend data from Smith Travel Research, and a library that includes U.S. economic and demographic statistics. Users can "store, sift, and merge data, as required." If that doesn't spice up the hotel-restaurant management school research assignments nothing will.

What does a Briefing Book contain? You better buy Database and find out! A sister publication to Database is called ONLINE: The Leading Magazine For Information Professionals (ISSN 0146-5422). It is published bimonthly by Online Inc., (800) 248-8466; fax: (203) 761-1444. ONLINE starts its 1997 January/February (20th anniversary) issue with this message: "Don't Go Online Without These Essential References For Online & Internet Searching" and then goes on to tout some of its services, such as the ONLINE Deskbook, "ONLINE Magazine's essential desk reference for online and internet searchers." The only desk reference to cover all the major on-line services and the Internet, it helps you identify important online information sources and put them to immediate use. It's loaded with shortcuts, troubleshooting guides, tips, and techniques; and contains the nuts and bolts to get up and running on-line. ONLINE's job is to take you into the intricacies of the Internet, but it also covers databases, such as "ONLINE Magazine's Field Guide to the 100 Most Important Online Databases." It usually boasts of six feature articles, and it also covers recent books and includes a number of interesting columns, such as "ONLINE WORLD Picture Story," by Amy Ferrito.

Chapter 21: Lexis-Nexis

For information on LEXIS-NEXIS, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc., contact them via e-mail at j.rigg@elsevier.co.uk, or call: (914) 524-9200 or go to an on-line vendor, such as CompuServe or America Online. The address is: http://www.lexis-nexis.com.

For those who remember, and there are many who don't, gathering what is called secondary research data, the stuff somebody else has published and the library is filled with, was usually an arduous task. You had to scour the library; write the government, some corporation, trade association, or otherwise, and often wait several weeks for the reply. "We're sorry, Mr. Jones will be out of the office until next year." Today, of course, that drudgery is over and on-line databases are available by the thousands in every category one can possibly think of, with certainly more to come.

CALVIN AND HOBBES  1998 Watterson Dist. by UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.