What Is a Database? |
Books discussed: The CIA World Factbook 2019-2020 by the CIA (2019), Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America by Roger Tory Peterson (2020)
Databases come in all shapes and sizes. The term "database" has become more common since the computer revolution, but databases are actually ancient. Clay tablets from the ancient Near East that list a king's possessions--such as his inventory of his cattle, bushels of wheat, and servants--are databases, a collection of data.
Databases come in all shapes and sizes. We often think of databases from a purely electronic angle. However, as stated above, databases have existed since writing itself. A database is a collection of data into a single book, pamphlet, website, or computer file. It's called a "database" for this reason: it's a "base" (like the base of a pyramid) of "data." Another word for "database" is "databank." In some ways, "databank" makes the point even more clearly. It's a bank filled with data. Databases cover all kinds of topics with different focuses and themes. A listing of customers and their phone numbers is a very common kind of database used in businesses. Online retailers have databases of goods, and the corresponding data shows a product's price and description. An ecologist's collection of tree measurements over a specific geographic area is another example of a database. An iTunes account is a database of an individual's music preferences.
The good old days. Print databases. Well, print databases are still around, and many of these print volumes are still doing great. In fact, I noticed that print dictionaries are actually doing quite well at "back to school time." I'm a firm believer that all homes, offices, and classrooms, even in the twenty first century, should have a print dictionary. You never know when you'll need one. A print dictionary is a database of words. The words are arranged alphabetically, of course. This obvious point illustrates a critical utility of databases: databases need to have some sort of organization. Without a helpful retrieval method, we would be left with only a mass of words and data. Phone books are another great example of an "old fashioned print database." Phone books list incredible amounts of information, if you think about it. Like dictionaries, entries are arranged alphabetically. Phone books provide names, phone numbers, and addresses of thousands of residences. They also include a second database, the yellow pages. The yellow pages are a good example of a subject index. Businesses are arranged by subject ("Automobile Repair," "Plumbers," etc.), and then the entries are arranged alphabetically under the subject. It's actually quite an undertaking, if you think about it. In fact, old phone books, say a phone book from 1937, will actually provide a local historian with A TON of information about a community in that year. The historian will be able to identify who lived where in 1937, how many electricians were operating in town in 1937, and many other specific kinds of information that otherwise would be lost by time. Encyclopedias offer a different kind of database. Instead of providing short entries like dictionaries, thesauruses, and phone books, encyclopedias provide full articles for each entry. Encyclopedias are an ancient form of knowledge collection. The "cycle" part of "encyclopedia" indeed refers to the "full circle" knowledge that is provided by an encyclopedia. "But print encyclopedias are outdated," somebody might say. While this might seem like a convenient argument in the current electronic age, just imagine how much you would actually learn if you read one encyclopedia entry of your choice each night. World Book is still in print. What a treasure: nearly all the information in the world, all collected into a single set of books. Pretty neat, huh? Beyond these obvious print databases, there are a plethora of others. Subject specific databases, like the CIA World Factbook or Black's Law Dictionary, provide highly-detailed information on narrow fields. Many print databases remain the standard reference material in several fields.
We live in the computer age. The advantage of a computer database is that it can be continously updated, and users don't have to wait until the next edition is published to receive updated information. In addition, large electronic databases are more portable than their print sisters. It's alot easier to bring a laptop around than to lug the two-thousand page tome around. The disadvantage of an electronic database is that it requires electricity and (often) an internet connection. If you're going into the woods, bring the print version of the Peterson Field Guide to Birds. However, in the office, at home, or in school, electronic databases have become wonderful finding tools. Many traditional print resources, like dictionaries and encyclopedias, can now be found as electronic databases. Encyclopedia Britannica, for instance, is very much alive and well as an electronic resource. Google and Bing are gigantic indexes of websites. They essentially play the role that the phone book did in the pre-internet era. Instead of phone numbers, however, Google and Bing index websites. While Google and Bing play a major role in the internet world, other databases provide access to articles that are not accessible through a simple internet search. Subscription vendors, like EBSCO, Elsevier, JSTOR, and Gale, provide users with access to academic and popular articles that often originated from print resources. Another popular database that your library might have is Ancestry. Vendors like EBSCO have contracts with publishers; thus, they can collect full-text articles into large databases. These databases allow users to search hundreds or thousands of publications, ranging from popular sources like National Geographic to academic sources like Biochemistry. Computer code searches keywords in thousands of publications in just seconds. How do I get access to a database from a vendor like EBSCO or Elsevier? The local library pays for access to these databases so users can access them for free. A library card can get you access to thousands of dollars worth of materials (for free) that will be accessible on your own time, even at your own home. Databases index the world. From bank accounts, to print dictionaries, to electronic searches, the world has become a data-heavy place. The more familiar one becomes with using databases, the more that person gains access to the ever-expanding information age. Updated September 2019 Back to the top of the page