Database BasicsSeptember 29th 2015

DTC356-01

Why Do We Need Databases?

• What kinds of problems are databases good at solving?

• When do we need to move from simple physical organization to using a database?

• What does Weinberger say?

Databases:

• Scale: Databases are good at storing large amounts of information

• Organization: Databases work when there is authority and structure

• Accuracy: Databases (when properly managed) return high precision and recall

• **Within the limits of the database record structure

• TABLE: A collection of records that use the same field structure

• RECORD: The complete collection of data for one item in the database (row)

• FIELD: An item of data for a record (column)

• Unique

• Null

• Key (primary, foreign)

AND (intersection)

OR (union)

NOT (relative compliment)

More on Boolean Logic & Venn Diagrams http://lib.colostate.edu/howto/others/venn.html

How to See your Library Database

Questions to Ask Yourself

• What does a record in this database look like?

• What are the fields in this particular database?

• Can I find a primary key?

• How do I perform operations in this database?

The Information Search Process

Carol Kuhlthau: https://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~kuhlthau/

information_search_process.htm