Databases

What is a database?

A database is a collection of data grouped together for a specific purpose. A database is used to keep large amounts of information organised. This enables people to search for relevant information. You can sort, browse and find information in a database.

Libraries purchase these databases from various publishers or providers (see below for some examples) and allow authorised users to access them over the Web. To see which databases are available and the subjects they cover look at the Online Resources page of the UFH Library Website.

Here are some examples of databases in our Library:

Types of databases

In a Library there are basically four types of databases:

	TYPE		DESCRIPTION
	Bibliographic databases		Index - these databases include only critical detail that will help you to find the material you are looking for, e.g. name of journal/periodical/book, name of author, volume number, issue number, date, etc. Abstract Index - this type of database includes the critical information as described above as well as a short abstract (summary) of the content of the publication.
	Full-text databases		Contain full-text articles, etc. An example of such a database would be Ebscohost. The text can be downloaded in different formats, such as pdf and html format.
	Numeric databases		This type of database provides numerical data such as statistics, survey results, census information, etc.
	Hybrid databases		This type of database provides a combination of different types of records.

Each database will have a description of what is available on the database. Please read these descriptions before you start your search. Some databases are available to all students and lecturers for searching, while others may only be used by the Librarians, because of licence constraints.