ABSTRACT
The number of information providers in the electronic environment is increasing: the Gale Directory of Databases now lists roughly 10,000 databases from 3,500 database producers and offered by 810 online services. Yet this number pales in comparison when we consider the millions of computers and servers on the Internet, many of which are vending products and services using the World Wide Web and other networking technologies. Indeed, today anyone with a home PC can truly become a database producer.
