In the last lesson we talked about what a database is, in this lesson we will talk about how a database is organized. If a person wants to be a successful searcher of databases she must understand how a database is organized. Records The largest unit of a database is referred to as a record. The database record provides the database user with a set of meaningful information.
Many databases use different user interfaces for the public.
We are showing you this technical user interface so that we can explain the concept of records, fields and subfields. What you see above is a record. Fields Fields are units of a record that contain unique information. In the above example of the catalog record the fields are indicated by numbers. For example the title of the book is located in the 245 field.