Between January 1, 2004 and January 31, 2005 the contract does not require that new material be indexed and added to the database. Some 2003 material that was in a backlog of already indexed items will be added during this timeframe.

According to a Notice published on the ERIC homepage: Beginning in January and until the new ERIC model for acquiring education literature is developed later in 2004, no new materials will be received and accepted for the database. However, the ERIC database will continue to grow, as thousands of documents selected by the ERIC clearinghouses throughout 2003 will be added. When the new model is ready later in 2004, the new ERIC contractor will communicate with publishers, education organizations, and other database contributors to add publications and materials released from January 2004 forward.

The new contractor is required to have citations for January through December 2004 available by January 31st, 2005. Thereafter the updating will be ongoing.

The new contractor will not be required to sell ERIC documents. Fiche and paper documents from the 1966-2003 period may not be available. Some of the documents currently available in electronic format through E*Subscribe will become available without charge.

Documents assigned level 2A not be available in electronic format after the transition because the language in the reproduction contract allows them be made available online only as part of a subscription service. The new ERIC will be free to all and so will not be able to offer those documents. Document access changes take place on June 30, 2004. (This date changed to Sept. 30, 2004 on 1/8/04)

New documents need not be made available in any but electronic format. It is unclear whether items which cannot be made available electronically will still be indexed. These new electronic documents will be available without charge.

There is no provision in the new system for maintaining Web Page content. All ERIC Clearinghouse web pages have been taken down. Some individual clearinghouses made arrangements for their materials to be housed elsewhere. These plans are detailed on the Clearinghouse Future Plans page.