Query a small part of a 'memo' field

[Guest]

I need to store a series of keywords relating to a book in a library system
that I am designing. I want to store these keywords in a memo field, but I do
not know how to perform a parameter search on just one keyword from this memo
field. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is a memo field the best way to
store this kind of data?

 

[Jeff Boyce]

Simon

While it is physically possible to store multiple values in a memo field,
indexing memo fields is not always possible (depends on version; only
portions can be indexed). And searching multiple values in a single field
is further complicated, as you need to use the "Like" operator and wildcards
to find the "pieces".

Have you considered creating a new table that holds only the foreign key
from the "parent" record and a keyword (single keyword in a field)? You
could easily index this field.

This "tall/narrow" table could hold zero, one, or many keywords associated
with each "parent" record. Finding any/all "parents" with an associated
keyword of "bicycle" would be incredibly fast.