The purpose of this study was to evaluate the credibility and timeliness of online business databases. The areas of evaluation were the currency, reliability, and extent of financial information in the databases. These were measured by performing an online search for financial information on five U.S. companies. The method of selection for the…

Presents guidelines for effective online searching developed over the last 20 years. Areas covered by the guidelines include preplanning, database selection, cost-effective search techniques, searching for names, awareness of differences between databases and systems, matching search strategies to databases, postsearch routines, and the…

Discusses client-server architecture in dumb terminals, personal computers, local area networks, and graphical user interfaces. Focuses on functions offered by client personal computers: individualized environments; flexibility in running operating systems; advanced operating system features; multiuser environments; and centralized data…