Number of Databases Accessible Online

Scope

• There is no accurate count of the number of commercial databases accessible online.
• There are varying estimates of about 5,200 to over 12,000 commercial databases accessible through:
  • Direct dial-up
  • Telnet
  • Web browsers
  • CD-ROM
• One expert says that there are over 3,000 databases accessible online in Japan alone.
• The Dialog database utility provides access to more than 600 databases representing about tens of millions of article citations with several trillion characters.

Increase in Databases

• The number of online databases is rapidly increasing because of:
  • The rapid growth and commercialization of the Internet, specifically the relatively easy-to-useWorld Wide Web.
  • The realization by all sorts of corporations that money can be made by the sale of specialized or unique datasets (collections of data about a particular subject).
  • The emergence of databases unique to the Internet, particularly the World Wide Web.
  • The financial opportunities that the sale of databases on the relatively easy-to-use World Wide Web enables.
  • The rapid growth in the use of CD-ROMs.

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