ERIC AP's ERIC Article, A Fundamental Error
It's good see in the mainstream media (Associated Press) an article about ERIC's funding situation. Particularly one that focuses on the useful and important resources (including ERIC Digests) and services the ERIC Clearinghouses offer. Nevertheless, the writer, Steve Giegerich, confuses the ERIC Database with the Clearinghouses. He writes, "the databases � known as clearinghouses � are operated by independent government contractors, located at colleges and universities around the country." Huh? The database is the database and the Clearinghouses are the Clearinghouses. The ERIC Database is secure but as Barbara Quint's Info Today article points out, "Specifications for the new contract omit requirements to support most of the customer services conducted by the clearinghouses, including the production of the popular digests, toll-free phone assistance, and the 6-million-hits-a-week AskERIC service." The ERIC database will go on. Databases are wonderful, important, and essential tools, to help satisfy a user's info need but PEOPLE and INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION are also essential and need to be part of the ERIC service. Research is more than typing a few words into a database. Often asking an expert a question (eg. Clearinghouses) or reading an expert written ERIC Digest can allow you get an authoritative answer in a very timely and efficient manner.
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