Such a model is not very flexible. One of the best illustrations of its limitation is a flat file representation of book catalog. In such a model the database would have to be designed to accommodate the maximum number of subject entries for each record in the database. Using a relational database model, you link two distinct database together based on a common field like an identification number. Because of the common field, the two databases can share data between themselves allowing you to update records in the first database by changing values in the second database.
Spreadsheets are very specialized database applications.
They're designed to manipulate rows and columns of numbers. Spreadsheets are do not excel at handling text, and most of the work librarians do surround text manipulation. Use a database to manage text and spreadsheets to manipulate numbers. When you learn how to use networked resources effectively, you begin to learn the possibilities of sharing data and information. The most common networked environment is as close as your desktop computer.