On September 1^st the new search interface debuted on the ERIC homepage. It is very simplified, easy to read, and focused on electronic full text. It also incorporates a lot of search techniques from web search engines. It ranks by relevancy and looks at how indexed items are interrelated to make suggestions for other search terms to try.

Comments on the EBSS-L listserv were mostly not positive.

• People did not like the lack of features, particularly the relevance ranking of results that does not allow sorting by date.
• The fact that the web-like interrelated subject heading information was provided within the Thesaurus area was deemed confusing by one reporter.
• One correspondent did like the feedback form, which she felt would be a good way to help improve the product.
• The lack of any functionality to mark selected records or email results is disappointing.

New Content

No indexing has been done for the ERIC database since December of 2003. The Contract calls for ongoing indexing to begin being available in December 2004; it has yet to begin. The 2004 gap, caused by the changeover was to have been eliminated by the end of January 2005. Both the contractor and the ERIC office have been frank about the missed deadlines, but have explicitly decided not to offer a revised timetable.

In Fall of 2004 changes were made to the ERIC Thesaurus that had the effect of flattening some of the subject hierarchies. Most of the changes were in subjects that are only peripherally related to education or are related to subjects of instruction within schools. One aspect of these changes that I found troubling is that they increased the Thesaurus' complexity, and violated its internal logic

Detailed descriptions of the EBSS Committee's look at the Thesaurus were in included in Open Letters dated November 29, 2004 and December 14, 2004   In addition, I went into some detail on the Thesaurus in my remarks at AERA in Montreal.

Other Contracted Features

The contractor states that the aim is to "ensure that ERIC is a highly useful, comprehensive resource for the literature in education; easily accessible and freely available to all. Toward that end significant progress – new infrastructure, new interface and free full text to name a few – has been made on this monumental task....The implementation of new features in the online system, whether they are required by the contract or user requested enhancements, must be prioritized relative to the overall effort. The database is continually evolving. "

Some features or content inclusion that are mentioned in the contract, with the information I have been able to gather about their status:

• 800 number for user technical assistance will continue as1-800-LET-ERIC, but Help Desk staff cannot assist users with reference questions or provide search assistance. ERIC users can be referred to the National Library of Education if they need reference assistance. Callers should identify themselves as an ERIC user if they are looking only for materials in ERIC. The NLE number is 800-424-1616, or email library@ed.gov."
• A metadata designation of quality is planned for implementation with newly acquired materials (that should have been up December 1, 2004). This may involve some changes in the set of fields for new records, but that is just my speculation. The peer review status of journals indexed will be indicated.
• The contract calls for a spell check on search terms but this is planned for the future; it is not to be a high priority at this time.
• The short answer for the Thesaurus review is "We are not ready to make any major changes in the Thesaurus. Due consideration must be given to how the technology will operate with full text and a variety of other factors." Further research on this topic is reported in the Open Letters.
• Apparently still in development, a process to must allow libraries to customize the interface to link to their holdings, as well as link to resources out on the web (these might simply be to a site where the product is for sale). No firm implementation date, but no indication that this has been given a low priority.

Linking to full-text from familiar ERIC search interfaces

While many hoped that the new ERIC would be a wonderful, improved search engine, most researchers have access to other ERIC search interfaces. Having seen the new product and realized that it will be a long time before it meets their needs, researchers want to know about linking to the full-text documents and other new full-text material that is scheduled to appear in this new ERIC product.

Regarding the full text content from E*Subscribe, I contacted CSC, the new contractor for ERIC. The response:

• Links to former E*Subscribe documents now scheduled to be freely available from ERIC should be in place in the vendor versions of ERIC in time for the October 1 debut. Each vendor (EBSCO, FirstSearch, Ovid, etc.) will have to change the current links to a new URL, but my CSC contact assures me that the vendors have indicated that this will be done.
• Reports on EBSS-L on October 1^st indicate this was mostly successful. Minor glitches, not all CSA users are finding the links, and EBSCO is linking to the new interface even for items not available in full text. SearchERIC provides a link to the new interface, Educators Reference Desk refers users to GEM (Gateway to Education Materials).

I have an email from OCLC FirstSearch:

• Over 107,000 full-text non-journal documents (issued 1993-2004), previously available through the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS), will now be available at no charge. All full-text content freely available through the ERIC website will also be available through the FirstSearch version of ERIC.

EBSCO responded to an EBSS member inquiry:

• You will not have to do a thing for the change over. This will be done by EBSCO.

An email from CSA says:

• Effective October 1, more than 107,000 full-text non-journal documents (issued 1993-2004), previously available through fee-based services only, will be available for free through the DoE's ERIC site. CSA will provide full support for these changes for all subscribers to ERIC on CSA's interface. Moreover, they will all be available at no additional subscription rate.

I contacted Ovid, which controls both the Ovid and SilverPlatter interfaces. I believe both will included the new links on the debut October 1. However the answer for the SilverPlatter platform required a little negotiation. Here for your edification:

Regarding Ovid they replied:

• The linking functionality within the Ovid version of the database will be unaffected by the changes at the IP. Links to resources at the IP site will continue to function as normal...

Regarding SilverPlatter they replied:

• Due to changes at the IP this database will not be updated until December 2004. After December updates will resume in a quarterly fashion. The next update would have been September. This has been postponed and will be wrapped up in the December update. The linking functionality within ERIC will also be non-operational from now until the reload of the database. This again is due to the IP changing the way they make these links work. The database is being reloaded and links will be operational again in Q4. Once the reload is live customers will then have uninterrupted links to level 1 (electronic) documents for 1992-2004.
• I called and told them that as far as I knew, this would mean that SilverPlatter would be the only commercial interface on the market that would not provide corrected links on October 1. I asked for a brief explanation. I got a phone message reply that upon further investigation, it turns out that SilverPlatter links will work on October 1.

The Web interface at SearchERIC links to the individual documents (whether or not they are available from ERIC) and also provides a link to the new ERIC interface to assist users in accessing full text.

Educator's Reference Desk has indicated to me that they will link to the new full text source for ERIC when it becomes available. Educator's Reference Desk had been providing links to individual ERIC documents, but will discontinue that with the new interface. It will just provide a link to the new ERIC interface and a link to Gateway to Education Materials.

Steering Committee

"The Steering Committee shall be an expert technical group that provides recommendations to the contractor for implementing the ERIC mission." (Contract, p. 4)

"The contractor shall establish and support a Steering Committee, not to exceed 12 members, having expertise in education research, research methodology, and the major technical aspects of an online database, database search engine, and website. Steering Committee members will have complementary strengths so that they can address separate issues such as database and website building and usability, metadata and indexing, and archival and migration of files. " (Contract, p.5)

Official Department of Education announcement is now available at http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/resources/html/
about/about_eric_steering.html

Bill Arms Professor, Department of Computer Science Cornell University

Mick Bass Project Manager, MIT/HP DSpace Project Hewlett-Packard Laboratories

Debra Bendig Product Manager, FirstSearch WorldCat Databases Online Computer Library Corporation (OCLC)

Robert Boruch Professor, Graduate School of Education and the Statistics Department Wharton School

Douglas Carnine Senior Research Associate and Professor of Education, Institute for the Development of Educational Achievement University of Oregon

Harris Cooper Professor and Director of the Program in Education, Department of Psychology: Social and Health Sciences Duke University

Harriet Henderson Director Montgomery County Public Libraries

Nancy Jordan Associate Professor, School of Education University of Delaware

G. Reid Lyon Chief, Child Development and Behavior Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) National Institutes of Health

Hannah Rothstein Professor of Management, Zicklin School of Management Baruch College and the Graduate Center City University of New York

Lawrence Rudner Chief Psychometrician Graduate Management Admission Council Former Director, ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation

Research Triangle Institute (RTI) subcontractor for curator work

The contractor shall provide skilled staff to meet contract requirements, including a project director, technical experts, and curators with expertise in closing the achievement gap, educational practices that improve academic achievement and promote learning, research methodology, and the 16 ERIC topics. (Contract p. 11)

The curators role was clarified at the ERIC Users Group meeting in Boston in January 2005. They are the folks who are actually selecting items to be indexed. The actual indexing is being done by CSC employees.

Nstein subcontractor for search engine

The contractor shall use, and update as needed, a high-quality search engine, with features and functionality that are comparable to the best commercial search engine. (Contract, p. 17)

From an Nstein press release:

Nstein Technologies signs contract with Computer Sciences Corporation 08/05/2004 - Nstein solutions to be used for the world’s largest educational database
      Montreal, Quebec, August 5, 2004 - Nstein Technologies Inc. (TSX-V: EIN), an emerging leader in new Business Intelligence (BI) solutions, revealed today the details of a contract previously announced on April 29, 2004, signed with Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC) – a leading global information technology (IT) services company – to develop the world’s largest educational database, the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), a project funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
      The U.S Department of Education has teamed up with CSC and subcontractors like Nstein Technologies to develop and operate a brand new version of the ERIC database. Established in 1966, ERIC is composed of more than one million bibliographic records. Its goal is to give educators, researchers and the general public ready access to high-quality, education-related materials through the Internet.
      “Nstein is proud to be associated with this extremely ambitious educational database project and to provide leading-edge research and data-retrieval solutions for one of the U.S. Department of Education’s most strategic projects,” stated Mario Girard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nstein Technologies.
     “Not only is this contract with CSC, a major player in the field of systems integration, an important business opportunity for Nstein in the area of education, it opens a door for the Company to develop American government business and business in the United States in general,” Mr. Girard added.