Reference sheet prepared by Jolene M. Morris, District Technology Director, Grand Co. School District
A database is simply a collection of information. A telephone book is a database, an encyclopedia is a database, and a library card catalog is a database.
Computerized database programs are programs which allow you to collect the information and store it electronically on a computer disk or network. Because computers can search information more quickly than a person can, computerized databases are superior to printed databases such as telephone books or library card catalogs. Some popular database programs are dBase, Paradox, DataPerfect, Q&A, and Access.
Information
Before the late 1950's, most of the money earned in the world was earned by manufacturing. This was called the Industrial Age. Since the late 1950's, most of the money earned in the world is by the exchange, management, or selling of information. We are now in the Information Age. Databases make the Information Age possible because they manage information better than any person or group of persons could. Not only does a computer allow you to find the desired information easily, it also allows you to add and update information as it changes. Computers allow you to combine several existing databases into one larger database. In a world burdened with information overload, computers offer a means of efficiently and constructively managing the masses of data we have created, discovered, or collected, leaving us more time to pursue creative and intuitive endeavors.
Database Terminology
The hardest thing to learn about a computerized database is the terminology -- it's almost like learning a foreign language. But once you understand the database language, you will find computerized databases are "the only way to go".
file -- is the database saved on a computer disk or network. If the telephone book were a computerized database, the entire book would be a file. If a library card catalog were computerized, the entire catalog would be a file.
record -- all related information about one source in the database. In the telephone book example, the line containing a person's name, address, and phone number is one record. In a library card catalog, each card describing one book is a record.
field -- is one distinct piece of information in a record. In the telephone book, the person's name is a field, the address is the second field, and the phone number is the third field in the same record. In a card catalog there may be many fields such as title of the book, author, library call number, ISBN number, category (such as science fiction), description, etc.
sort -- means to organize the information in a particular order. In a database, all the information about one record is kept together when the database is sorted. The order of the records depends upon which field is sorted. In a telephone book, all records are sorted by the last name field (the records are in alphabetical order). If the telephone book were in a computerized database, it would be possible to sort it in phone-number order and then sort it again in address order. It wouldn't make much sense to have a phone book sorted by address, but that would be possible. In the example of a card catalog, you could sort all the cards by title, then you could sort them again by author or by subject.
index or key -- is the field you sort on. For example, if you sort the card catalog in alphabetical order by author, the author field is the key field or the index field.
report -- is when you print a computerized database on paper. You can choose to print the entire database or just parts of it. You would usually want to sort your database before printing it. Thus you could make a report of the library catalog database sorted by title, and you could make another report sorted by author. Do not print a report of a database just to find information; instead, use the computer to do the searching.
search -- After information is entered into a database, the computer excels in searching the information and finding the record you want. In the case of a telephone book database, you could search for the name of Joseph Jacobsen and find it within seconds (even if the telephone book were as large as New York City's).
search criteria -- When you search a computerized database, you need to tell the computer what to search for. This is called the search criteria. If you are searching a library card catalog for a title with the word Mockingbird in it, your search criteria would be title: Mockingbird. If you are searching for any book written by Mark Twain, your search criteria would be author: Mark Twain. If you were searching for a book by Jane Austin and the book's title had the word pride in it, your search criteria would be author: Jane Austin and title: pride.
Boolean search operators -- If your search criteria is just one word or one number, it is a simple search; but if your search criteria contains two or three words and/or numbers, you need to use what are called Boolean search operators (named after George Boole who created them). The most common operators are and, or, and not. Let's suppose you wanted to find a book either by Jack London or by Mark Twain. Your search criteria would be:
author: Jack London or Mark Twain
Let's suppose you wanted to find a book and you remembered it had the words how to in the title. If you searched all books in a large library, you could find a list of hundreds with how to in the title. You need to narrow your search. You don't know if it had the word sewing in the title but you knew it was a book about sewing. You would enter the search criteria how to in the title field and the search criteria sewing in the subject field.
hit -- When you search a database and find references to the information you are looking for, the reference is called a "hit". If you find five references, you made five hits.
