R.I.P ERIC

ERIC stands for Education Resources Information Center and it is a curated online public library of 2.1 million educational documents that is funded and managed by the U.S. Education Department. The collection dates back to the 1960s and used to be circulated to libraries through microfiche. Today it’s an open access website where anyone can search, read online or download material. Neither a library card nor login credentials are needed. It is used by an estimated 14 million people a year. If you’re familiar with MedLine or PubMed for health care studies, this is the equivalent for the field of education.     --Jill Barshay

I will admit that I have not used ERIC much in my professional life, but I know people who depend on it. Way back when I was a student assistant at the Reference Desk in college, part of my job was to re-shelve the ERIC microfiche that the Education students used. Since then of course, all of it has moved to an online format (Thankfully!), but I do realize that 14 million people worldwide depend on it, and that it has become a treasure trove for the education literature that will not be easily replaced.

Fellow Health Science Librarian, R. Kubilius posted on the MLA Collection Development Listserv:

First the announcement was that the ERIC database was going to be reduced by 45%. A group was keeping track of the journals that were no longer going to be indexed: The ACRL Evidence Synthesis Methods Interest Group provided a summary of changes to the ERIC (educational) database that go into effect on April 24, 2025: Upcoming changes to ERIC from an evidence synthesis perspective | Evidence Synthesis Methods Interest Group NOW this announcement (one in various sources); Major Education Resource Set to Shut Down this week: The federal Department of Education maintains an open access database of more than 2 million documents dating back to the 1960s. It will cease operating Wednesday due to DOGE cuts. The ERIC database will cease as today due to cancellation of funding.   Alternate resources include H.W. Wilson’s Education Abstracts, and, of course, the various databases that would cover health education topics, though they wouldn’t index all educational journals… Google and AI simply cannot replace this curated ERIC collection. In WI, we have a handful of other education databases available through Badgerlink.  ERIC was part of the offerings there.  Although not substitutes for ERIC, alternative education databases on Badgerlink include the following:  Ebsco Education Resources Education Source Education Administration Abstracts Library & Info science Source Professional Development Collection Teacher Reference Center It's unclear if ERIC will continue to be available with holdings up until the April 23, 2025 cutoff date, or if they will completely pull the plug on it?  In other words, will Ebsco be able to keep it going with what it contains up until today?  Will DOGE change it's mind if enough people protest? Will Badgerlink continue if it loses funding from the Dept. of Education? What will we do when DOGE comes after PubMed?