Behind every online library catalog, article index, or information service is a database, a digitized collection of information stored on a digital storage medium such as disk or tape. Databases are most commonly thought of as containing text and numbers, but they are not limited just to alphanumeric data and can also contain images, videos, and sound files in a variety of formats.

The Library's Online Catalog provides users with a system for retrieving information from the library's database of items collected in its print, media, and microformat collections. The library's database has been built over many years and continues to be added to as the library receives additional materials for its collections. As each item is received, it is examined by catalogers, compared to a national database of item descriptions (cataloging records), and then added to the library's database.

ALEPH is the name of the system software that allows a user to query the library's database. Like most systems, it has a variety of access points by which users can query the system for information, including author, title, subject, and keyword. These are only a few of the access points, though.

The catalog's Basic search screen offers users two approaches to finding information: Search for Keywords and Browse Organized Lists. The Keyword option allows searching for keywords anywhere in an item description, in author keywords, in title keywords, or in subject keywords. The Browse option allows searching in a number of different ways. Figure 1 below shows the Basic search screen and the available options. Table 1 below provides a listing of all the available browse options.

Figure 1

 

Table 1
Author (last name, first)		Call Number, LC
Author, Personal Name		Call Number, SuDoc
Author, Corporate Name		Call Number, Florida Documents
Author, Meeting Name		Call Number, Local
Participant/Performer		Number, ISBN
Title begins with		Number, ISSN
Titlte Series		Number, Music Publication
Title, Uniform		Number, OCLC
Subject		Number, System
Subject, Geographic		Numbers, All
Subject, Geographic (maps)		URL

 

Additional accesses are available from the catalog's Advanced Search screen. The Advanced screen is pictured below in Figure 2.

Figure 2

The Advanced search offers access to numerous keyword fields in the catalog. Table 2 below provides a listing of all the keyword searches available from the advanced pull down menus.

Table 2
Keyword(s) Anywhere		Keyword(s) in Subjects, Other
Title Keyword(s)		Keyword(s) in Subjects, LC
Author Keyword(s)		Keyword(s) in Contents
Keyword(s) in Series		Keyword(s) in Notes
Keyword(s) in Publisher Info		Keyword(s) Uniform Title
Keyword(s) in URL		Keyword(s) in Form/Genre
Keyword(s) in Subjects, General		Keyword(s) in Key Title
Keyword(s) in Subjects, Medical		old NOTIS processing unit
Keyword(s) in Subjects, Childrens		Keyword(s) in status field
Keyword(s) in Subjects, Geographic		Keyword(s) in staff notes

 

In addition to these standard keyword access points, a user can also take advantage of the descriptive data included in the catalog and limit the search by type of material (books, videos, discs, etc.), by language, and by date. Figure 3 illustrates how the pull-down menu works to provide access to certain types of materials.

Figure 3

A complete listing of available material formats is in Table 3.

Table 3
all		Newspaper
A-V		Online
Books		Periodical
Braille		Score
Biography/Autobiography		Serials
Computer files		Slide
Film		Sound (all formats)
Fiction		Sound (cassette)
Globe		Sound (CD)
Govt. Pub.		Sound (LP)
Kit		2D Graphic
Large Print		3D Graphic
Loose-leaf		Video (all formats)
Manuscript		Video (Beta)
Map		Video (DVD)
Microform		Video (Laserdisk)
Music (all formats)		Video (VHS)

 

Without a database system like ALEPH, finding out specific information on library materials would be tedious, if not next to impossible, without actually going to the shelves and retrieving the material. Herein lies the real beauty of databases: a user of the database can have access to hundreds and thousands of bits of information in a matter of seconds.

Article Indexing/Abstracting Systems provide users access to databases containing information about literally thousands of articles published in magazines, journals, newspapers, and sometimes books. At work are the same principles that are used in providing access to library materials housed in the UNF Library's collections. For every article covered in an indexing system, a cataloger has painstakingly described access points (author, title, subject, etc.) and, in many cases, even provided a summary of the article's content. Imagine trying to wander through this much information in a print only indexing/abstracting system. Researchers used to have to do things in print only, and the result was a laborious, time-consuming process that could take weeks.

In short, article indexes also allow users to access databases of information through a variety of access points. In this case, the information provided may be available in a library's print collections or through online articles collections. We'll cover more on these services later.

Other Types of Database Systems include digital image and sound collections and directories of information on people, places, and organizations. A prime example of a digital image collection available in the state of Florida is the Florida Heritage Collection. The images themselves can't be directly searched, but users can locate information about the images through a descriptive database and then link to the images directly.

So, databases provide researchers with powerful query tools that allow for precision searching of huge amounts of data. In many cases the information retrieved may describe source materials and provide information for locating the materials, but in some cases the information may also lead directly to the information itself. Whatever the end result, databases greatly simplify the researcher's task of gathering information.

Page updated 01/07