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xu.tutor: Identifying Resources

8. Databases > Definition

A database is a collection of information in electronic format organized in a logical fashion. Some examples of databases you may encounter in your daily life are a telephone book, an airline reservation system, and files on your computer.

Some examples of databases you may encounter when using the library are the EJC, the library's collection of full-text journals; ERIC, a database of education materials; and the World Wide Web, a collection of resources on the Internet.

There is a record for each unique item in a database.

Records store pieces of information about the item in fields, such as fields for the author, title, subject, date, publisher, etc.(example).

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