In the course of conducting commercial or personal business, it is common for an individual to access sources of information which are not locally available. The desired information is typically retrieved in a variety of ways including calling someone and obtaining the information verbally, calling someone and having a copy of the information sent by the United States mail or shipped by an overnight delivery service, and by using a personal computer (PC) to access a database. More recently, another technique which uses the caller's facsimile machine to output information from a database has been developed. Such an arrangement typically operates autonomously requiring a user to select the desired information using touch tone signals entered in response to voice messages outputted by the information providing equipment. While the information retrieval systems which utilize facsimile machines have worked well, there is a continuing desire to increase the capabilities and performance of such systems.