The bibliographic elements that describe an informational source. By its simplest definition a database is an organized collection of data that allows for search and retrieval. In libraries, the term refers to electronic systems that index periodicals, books, reports, government documents, and other types of materials. Some databases will simply give citations, some include an abstract, and yet others provide the full text of articles. For a complete listing of all electronic databases available in the Cofrin Library see the Electronic Databases Available in Cofrin Library guide.
Fields are components that make up records.
A field may contain information such as an author name, title, subject heading, abstract, etc. Types of fields vary from one database to another. If an article is available in full text that means that the entire article is available online, although usually without images, and may be printed from the electronic database. This is information about what volumes of a periodical the library owns. Some online databases indicate the library's holdings as part of the record others do not.