INFORMATION CENTRES AND DATABASES:
A, organisation selects, acquires, stores, organises a--retrieves specific documents to meet users' requirements,
(ii) announces, abstracts, extracts and indexes documents, and (Hi) disseminates documents in "response to requests from users. An of documents alone in providing the service. This is the subtle difference between a documentation centre and an information centre. A database is an organised set of data stored through (i) the medium of cards, files, ledgers, etc. which tan be searched manually, and (ii) the computer-readable medium which can be searched very fast. A database may contain usable raw data like physical and chemical properties, statistical and other numerical data or bibliographical information carrying description of source documents or non-bibliographical information relating to institutions, projects, spetialists, etc. While the term is predominantly used in computer field, it may be taken to mean, for our purpose, a repository of information on a specific topic, subject area or discipline.