Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has just released its newest search tool, Collection Search^BETA, and is inviting you, as a member of the public, to try it out and provide your feedback. This new interface allows users to search through Library records and Archive records, including items from many of the different specialized databases at LAC, like the William Lyon Mackenzie King diaries; Film, Video and Sound database; and Cabinet Conclusions.

The new Collection Search^BETA enhances user experience by adding a ‘tab’ interface to explore the entire collection with just one search term or phrase. There are also some new features like the ability to download or print your search results. Simply navigate forward and back between the records you’ve found, and refine your search results by individual year.

A screen-capture of the new Collection SearchBETA interface, showing Archives results for the search term “vimy ridge.”

Some important things to note about the new Collection Search^BETA:

• This is a BETA website—there may be some technical issues as we continue to improve this new search interface—please continue to use our site and be patient as we make adjustments and improvements!
• For now, the Collection Search^BETA is a simple keyword search interface. For advanced search capability and the ability to perform Boolean searches, you can continue to use our existing Advanced Library Search and Advanced Archives Search tools.
• You can now search most of the items in our collections from one single location and we will continue to add to the list, but not everything is accessible via the Collection Search^BETA just yet. For an up-to-date list of what the Collection Search^BETA includes, check out  the about page.

Try it out and let us know what you think using the feedback link on the Collection Search^BETA home page—we’re eager to hear your thoughts so we can continue to improve this new tool.