Structure and Types of Databases

Structure of Databases

Understanding the structure of a database will help you locate and retrieve information more efficiently. The information about each item in a database is called a record. For example, the library's online catalog has a record for each item (each book, journal, newspaper, video, map, etc.) located in the library.

A record is composed of individual elements of information called fields. All the records in a given database are composed of a common set of fields. These fields can be used as access points when searching a database. For example, many databases include common fields such as author, title, subject, publisher, and journal name.

Types of Databases

There are several types of databases. The kind of information contained in a database determines its type. The most common types of databases include:

• Bibliographic databases provide citations (a listing of information about the item), and sometimes include abstracts (summaries) or descriptions of the items.
• Full-text databases contain the full text of a work.
• Numeric databases provide mostly numeric data (numbers)  such as statistics or financial data.
• Image databases could include art prints, photos, animations, and other types of images.
• Audio/Video databases could include audio clips of sound effects and music samples or video excerpts from speeches, television shows, or other broadcast media.
• Mixed databases combine two or more of the other database types.