Fact databases give directly useful information.
Fact databases are used for storing descriptive information and numerical data. They can contain directly useful information such as law texts, statutes, corporate information, statistics or terms. Fact databases contain, as the name implies, shorter texts and facts and they are used to retrieve certain information. In a fact database you get all the information directly on the screen and you do not need to search further. The search query can often be very precise and the answers are most often complete.
One example of a fact database is The World Factbook published by the CIA. In the World Factbook you will find various kinds of information about the countries of the world. You will find information about topics like geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation and military. The online Factbook is updated periodically throughout the year.
A common encyclopedia like Encyclopaedia Britannica is also a fact database.
Anne-Marie Pettersson
2005-12-01
