The ERIC* Development News

ERIC User Group Web Page

Minutes of ERIC User Group Discussions at ALA:

Annual 2006
Midwinter 2006
Annual 2005
Midwinter 2005

Information from former blog: ERIC Users Information Exchange

Search Engine  

Using ERIC through vendors like EBSCO, Ovid, ProQuest

Journal and Report Coverage

New Indexing Procedures

New Thesaurus

Linking to Full Text 

Older Information about the transition process is available in the archive of the ERIC Reauthorization News

Also find a Log of Kate Corby's Open Letters about ERIC

 

*In 2003 the federal government reconceptualized the ERIC database, let all the old contracts lapse, and in Spring 2004 awarded a new contract for construction of the database.

The New ERIC product is online at http://www.eric.ed.gov/

Many people are interested in closely monitoring the development of this new federal product. This page is maintained with the assistance of the ERIC User Group, a project of the Education and Behavioral Sciences Section of ACRL/ALA in cooperation with ERIC User Group representatives from the Education Division of SLA.

Latest News

  • There is an almost entirely new Steering Committee, only two returning members. Two of the new members are also members of EBSS, the section of librarians who have been closely monitoring ERIC changes.
  • January 2007 at Midwinter we learned that the contractor has gotten permission from the Department of Education to digitize all the ERIC microfiche and seek copyright permissions to post the digital files freely on the web.
  • July 2006, New search engine is up and running. Users now must use the * to truncate words in searches.

Background:

On March 18, 2004 the Department of Education announced the award of the contract for the new ERIC system to to Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) of Rockville, Md. (CSC previously held the ERIC Facility and the ERIC Document Reproduction Service contracts.) The new contractor rolled out a new database interface on September 1, 2004; the list of journals to be indexed and the first issue of new content on June 25, 2005.

As part of a restructuring authorized by PL 107 279, the Department of Education decided not to renew the contracts with the Clearinghouses. The service component contracts also were not renewed. Since the Clearinghouses were the entities that constructed the ERIC database, this has implications for the content and accessibility of the database. Additionally, a focus on scientifically based research leads some observers to wonder whether qualitative research and the exchange of ideas will no longer be valued, and may no longer be seen as important information to be preserved and disseminated.

This site will attempt to offer independent analysis of the new ERIC interface, answer user questions and gather input to advise the Department of Education and the contractor about desireable features/enhancements.

January 27, 2007

Maintained by
Kate Corby
Education and Psychology Bibliographer
Michigan State University Libraries