Re: ERIC-FYI

["George K Cunningham" <gkc@louisville.edu>]

Luckily, Carl Levin carries a lot of weight in Washington now.

George K. Cunningham
University of Louisville

>>> Teachernut@aol.com 06/25/03 01:17PM >>>

Dear Friend:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Educational Resources
Information 
Center (ERIC). I appreciate hearing from you on this issue.

As you may know, ERIC is the largest education database in the world.
It was 
established in 1966 and is supported by the Office of Educational
Research 
Improvement within the Department of Education. ERIC is comprised of
more than 
one million bibliographic records contained in 16 clearinghouses.
Currently, 
students, educators, researchers, and the public can access ERIC's
databases. 
They can also purchase a full-text copy of the non-journal article they
desire 
through the ERIC Document Reproduction Service. Because both contracts
will 
expire soon, the Department of Education has been researching ways to
improve and 
extend the system.

The Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (P.L.107-279) requires that
the 
information ERIC provides be done in a user-friendly, timely, and
efficient 
manner, including increased use of the Internet with online, searchable
databases. 
This law also requires that any revision of ERIC retain the same topics
the 
ERIC clearinghouses currently contain. In response, on May 16, 2003,
the 
Department of Education released a "Draft Statement of Work" expressing
its intention 
to provide a contract to an organization to operate an online
bibliographic 
and full-text ERIC database of education journal articles and
non-journal 
materials. The Department of Education will make the final decision
regarding ERIC.

Some concerns have been raised about the future of ERIC following the
release 
of the Draft Statement of Work, including the proposed termination of 
AskERIC, a personalized Internet-based service providing education
information to 
anyone interested in education; the reduction in coverage of journal
literature 
and the limitation of the database to a list of journals approved by
the Bush 
Administration; and the possibility of the 16 separate databases being

consolidated.

I will continue to monitor this issue as it develops. 

Sincerely,

Carl Levin