A semi-automatic procedure that extracts metadata from MEDLINE was used to develop a search tool that facilitates online location and (free) access to full-text electronic documents from the Proceedings of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Annual Symposia (1997-2003). Log file analysis for six months showed steady use of the tool, with most queries originating from hosts in the US (60%), Canada (15.3%), Argentina (10.2%) and Australia (9.6%) for common informatics topics.