Through cooperation with the Canadian Heritage Information Network, Communications Canada, a database with supporting entry and retrieval programs was developed for the Canadian Museum of Nature to accomodate the author's palynological research requirements. The PARIS program allows specific questions to be answered through a series of simple searches, thereby serving as an identification tool. Appropriate standards for accuracy, cross-referenced fields, and the ability to search for unknown pollen or spore taxa via morphological characters are all accomplished using PARIS.