Abstract: A system for managing database connections between concurrent user applications and a plurality of databases in a database processing system. This method minimizes the number of connections made to a database by allowing such connections to be shared by multiple applications. The concept of a shared versus exclusive connection is introduced and, depending on the user application, a connection manager automatically routes a database access request through either an existing shared connection or an exclusive connection. A single database access object is introduced that includes two types of methods for connecting to a specified database in two different simultaneous paths. First, a shared connection through a catalog server process is made to process schema query requests for definition retrieval. Secondly, another connection is made to retrieve and manipulate data from the database responsive to SQL execution requests.