NARA offers Google-like search tool.

• Position: GOVERNMENT RECORDS - Www.archives.gov/ research/search - National Archives and Records Administration - Brief article

It doesn't have a snappy name, but the National Archives and Records Administrations" (NARA) new online search system, Online Public Access, aims to make finding federal records as easy as a Google search.

Available at www.archives.gov/ research/search, the new online search system consolidates access to 20 million federal archival records, officials said. With the Online Public Access tool, users can search multiple NARA resources at once to find what they need, so it's no longer necessary to perform separate searches via resources like the Archival Research Catalog (ARC) for catalog descriptions, histories, and biographies; Access to Archival Databases (AAD) for electronic records; and Archives.gov.

According to NARA, the prototype currently contains all the data from ARC and seven series from AAD containing 10.9 million permanent e-records. In addition, the prototype provides access to 1 million electronic records...