You don’t have to know how to write code to create and manage databases to handle your contact lists, book, video and music collections, sports memorabilia, or virtually any other information need.

This article explains the basics of databases for the non-geek who wants to take advantage of the power and flexibility of these wonderful software programs. The specific terms and references are to Microsoft Access, which is the most user friendly software available, but the concepts apply to any database software.

First, the tables. These make up the basic and most important part of a database. You can do just about anything to the other parts of the database without risking damage, so long as you’re careful what you do to the tables. This is where you define the type of data you will collect (text, number, date, yes/no, etc.), and where you will collect it. A table is made up of fields, each field containing one piece of data. The basic rule is, if you might want to sort by it, it needs its own field. For example, in a contact database, if you want to sort by last name, the last name must be in a field by itself, not in the same field as the first name.

The other parts of the database - queries, forms, reports, and macros, if you get fancy - just manipulate the data stored in the tables. The only serious damage you can do using these controls is to delete a record in error - and even then, the record can always be re-entered.

Forms are used to view existing data and enter new data. A form is what you see on the screen at the doctor’s office when the staff call up your health record, or at the video store when they retrieve the record for your rental.

Queries are my favourite part of the database. In fact, they’re what I love about databases. You use them to view selected fields of selected records, in endless ways. The more information you collect, the more possibilities there are for building queries. In a simple contact database you might use a query to create a list of all your contacts, in alphabetical order by last name, with their phone numbers. Or you might want to narrow the query search criteria to display only the contacts in one city, with their addresses. In my books database I have separate fields for author, title, location, category, owner and notes. This allows me to produce lists that show what books my son has left behind and what boxes they’re stored in. I’ve created a nature reserves database for the land trust I belong to, and can use this to produce, for example, a list of birds that have been noted in one location, which anyone can take with them when they visit. They can check off the ones that they see again, and add any new sightings to the list for later entry. I’d love to go on, but I’m sure you get the idea. Once a query is created, you can name and save it to use over and over.

Reports work like queries. I rarely use them, but they are useful when you want a more flexible format than a query allows, or have more complex search criteria than one query can handle on its own.

These are the basics you need to understand and appreciate the value of databases. Once you’re convinced of that, there are many books and web sites available to answer your detailed questions. A web site I recommend for free tutorials is:

http://www.gcflearnfree.org/computer/

And don’t forget the paper clip guy!