Like articles, conference papers are a valuable source for finding research results.  It is also is a good place to become acquainted with the work of researchers in your area of interest.  Many databases that index articles also index conference papers. 

When searching for a conference paper, keep in mind that many conference papers are compiled with the other papers of that conference and published as a book.  If that's the case, it's important to use the title of the compilation rather than your individual paper in order to find a copy.