What's a database?

    <!-- HEADER_FILE: header.shtml --> <!-- URI: /lib/instruction/research/database.html --> <!-- END OF HEADER -->A database is a searchable collection of information. In library research, a database is where you find articles. Each database contains thousands of articles from different journals, which you search simultaneously. You can cover a lot of ground quickly using databases, finding more articles with higher relevancy than searching in individual journals.

A database is a collection of data. That may sound overly simplistic but it pretty much sums up what any database is.

 

A database could be as simple as a text file with a list of names. Or it could be as complex as a large, relational database management system, complete with in-built tools to help you maintain the data.

e could use this information to do things such as send an email to everyone on our list. We could do this because, due to the way we designed the list, we know that each row contains a different individual, and the information on that row is related to that individual. Also, the items in each row are separated by commas. Therefore, we know that the email address next to "Homer" is his email address. We could also call each row a record. Therefore, we currently have 4 records in our database.

 

With a small list like this, a text file may serve our purposes perfectly.