1/9/2006 Updates are available to vendors monthly. I do not have reports on Ovid or Ebsco. SilverPlatter appears to be updating quarterly. FirstSearch and Cambridge are updating monthly.

8/18/05 EBSCO: We are in the process of applying the update provided by ERIC - unfortunately our update has been delayed due to data compatibility issues. We have been working with the folks at ERIC to resolve these issues and I am very hopeful that the database will be release in short order - conservatively speaking before the end of the month.

8/16/05 OVID/SilverPlatter: We are finalizing the contact and will have the data up soon.

8/15/05 Cambridge Scientific Abstracts is showing the new content.

8/11/05 OCLC FirstSearch: ERIC has not yet provided the new updates to us. We expect them before Fall and will load them as soon as we receive them.

First new content 6/26/05

The first indexing done under the new ERIC contract was released on June 26, 2005. According to the flyer distributed by the ERIC booth in the ALA exhibits hall, it included the 2004-2005 content of more than 100 journals and items from 60 non-journal providers, such as public and professional organizations. Please note, at this time the new content is available only from the eric.ed.gov site. Vendor contracts are not yet in place so vendors (FirstSearch, Ebsco, Ovid, CSA, etc.) do not yet have this content.

Linking to full-text from vendor ERIC search interfaces

Many are still using the vendor interfaces to search ERIC. Links to holdings from these interfaces are largely reliant on the capabilities of the vendor software and the configurations enabled at the subscribing institution.

Links to the freely available ERIC documents are available through the vendor interfaces.

At the Users Group meeting in June 2005, the contractor indicated that new content would not be sent to a vendor until they had signed a contract agreeing to provide user data and reload the database. That's a pretty strong "request."

(p. 18) The contractor shall make updates available to vendors not less than monthly in a manner that encourages and facilitates database maintenance, integrity, and consistency. The contractor shall request that vendors provide data on the number and types of organizations and the estimated number of end users that access the database, so that the contractor can incorporate the data into the usage analysis reports required in 4.9.1.