Editing Data bank (section)

{{Short description|High-volume, widespread organized collection of data}}
{{Merge to|Database|discuss=Talk:Database#Proposed merge of Data bank into Database|date=May 2025}}
In [[database management]] and [[information architecture]], a '''data bank''' or '''databank''' is a repository of information about one or more subjects, that is, a [[database]] which is organized in a way that facilitates local or remote information retrieval and is able to process many continual queries over a long period of time. 
A ''data bank'' may also refer to an organization primarily concerned with the construction and maintenance of such a database. 

A data bank may be either centralized or decentralized, though most usage of this term refers to centralized storage and retrieval of information, by way of analogy to a monetary [[bank]]. The [[data]] in a data bank can be anything from scientific information like global temperature readings, and governmental information like census statistics, to financial-system records like credit card transactions, or the inventory available from various suppliers.  

In [[computing]], the term ''databank'' is also obsolete (1960s through 1970s) [[computer jargon]] for ''[[database]]'' itself, and is frequently used in that sense in materials written during the same time period.