Eric Clearinghouses on the Chopping Block

05/01/2003

Eric Clearinghouses on the Chopping Block

"Then there's the joy of getting your desk clean, and knowing that all your letters are answered, and you can see the wood on it again."
–Lady Bird Johnson

ERIC CLEARINGHOUSES ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK

The U.S. Department of Education has issued draft plans for a "New ERIC" system which calls for the elimination of all 16 clearinghouses. In addition, the proposed ERIC system:

* Eliminates personalized reference and referral services;
* Terminates AskERIC and clearinghouse question-answering services;
* Ends all networking and outreach activities including ERIC-sponsored Listservs;
* Shuts down Clearinghouse web site currently visited by 22.5 million unique visitors a year;
* Eliminates ERIC Digests, books and other sythesis publications;
* Reduces coverage of the journal literature from 1100 journals to an estimated 400;
* Restricts ERIC database coverage to "approved lists" of journals and document contributors.

For complete details on the proposed changes, go to the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) 2003 Draft Statement of Work 01, Modification 01 at http://www.eps.gov/spg/ED/OCFO/CPO/Reference%2DNumber%2DERIC2003/listing.html.

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