Just what IS a database?
What's a database?
- A
database is information collected and organized for efficient retrieval.
- Databases
may be printed, electronic, graphic, audio, statistical, or combinations
of these.
- A
database could be as simple as the list of numbers in your cell phone or
as complex as one of the Library's databases.
- Databases
may be general or cover very specific subjects.
- Databases
usually cover only a certain range of dates. Within the database,
individual titles of newspapers, magazines, journals and other sources may
vary.
A full-text database
provides almost all of the complete text of a publication. In Academic Search
Complete or ProQuest Research Library your search will bring up not only the
citation (author, title, source, date, abstract, etc.) to an article from a
journal, magazine or newspaper, but often the entire text of the article as
well. You can click a box in most full-text databases to limit your search
to full-text articles only.
If the perfect article isn't full-text, ask a librarian to help you get it
through Inter-library loan—from another library system.
Availability of materials indexed (included) in database:
Most libraries don't carry all the publications indexed in a database. Both
size and mission determine the type materials an institution has and the depth
of coverage subjects are given. Smaller two-year college libraries won't have
as many discipline-specific publications as a four-year graduate research
institution. But each library will support its specific programs--such as
Pierce's nursing, dental hygiene and veterinary technician programs--and will
provide coverage of those programs based on the degrees offered. So, an
institution offering a master's degree in nursing will have more materials on
that subject that an institution offering only a bachelor's degree.
Bibliographic databases
provide a descriptive record of an item, but the item itself is not provided in
the database. The Library's online catalog
is a bibliographic database. Information about a book or DVD and some
other types of items is provided, including the usual factoids like author,
title, subject, publisher, etc., but ALSO which campus has the item, where in
the library it's shelved (reference, circulating collection, A/V section, etc.)
AND whether it's available! Online catalogs are evolving to include Web links,
e-books, and more!
Inside a database:
Understanding how databases are organized can help you
retrieve information more efficiently. Information about each item in a
database is called a record. Elements of an individual record are called fields. Fields are what you're choosing when
searching a database. Think about the library's catalog…
Here's what YOU see when you look for a book:
George Boole
George Boole, born in England in 1815, was a philosopher of mathematics who showed that data could be treated similarly to numbers and could be manipulated following the laws relating to combining operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
(image from uccinternational.wordpress.com)
A tutorial from Georgia
The University System of Georgia has a very thorough introduction to databases and database searching from their "Online Library Learning Center."
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