A database may be a collection of numbers, words or images. The library catalog is a database that contains information about items the library owns.
Some items listed in a library catalog include books, videos, computer programs, CDs and maps.
Libraries often purchase subscriptions to databases that contain sets of information about a given topic in a specific format. For example, libraries with a subscription to ERIC purchase lists of articles, books and papers related to the field of education. Databases consist of records . Each record represents an actual item . Sometimes a field may have more that one entry .