A soybean germplasm data bank has been set up by members of the Department of Agronomy at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign . Information on named soybean varieties, Plant Introductions, Genetic Type Collection lines, Forage Collection varieties, and species collections, has been compiled and computerized so that it is readily available as a reference source. An information retrieval system enables queries concerning various aspects of the germplasm bank to be answered with a minimum of human effort .