The energy related construction information system ERCIS: response to a need for information on army facilities

The paper describes the Ercis bibliographic information system, developed at the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) in Urbana‐Champaign, Illinois. The purpose of the system is to assist the Architecture/Engineering firms under contract with the Army Corps Engineers in locating regulations or guidelines on the planning, design or construction of army facilities. Full bibliographic records of these regulations or guidelines contained in various army publications constitute the system's database. Ercis is a user friendly information system and its search dialog is based on Boolean logic using controlled vocabulary terms.