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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