Reminiscences from the Field: The Continuing Story of ERIC.

The Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) was born in the mid-1960s and is today the world's largest and most popular educational database. The history of ERIC's early development has been told in Del Trester's 1981 narrative, "ERIC--The First Fifteen Years: 1964-1979, A History of the Educational Resources Information Center." This book takes up where the Trester book left off in 1980 and ends in 1999. Unlike the Trester book, this volume is not an historical chronology, but rather, a somewhat subjective examination of the ERIC system in a world of rapid technological advances and changing political priorities. It is primarily an oral history, leaning heavily on the reminiscences of those who were the key players during these years and the files that they kept. Highlights include an overview of the ERIC system; the redesign period; ERIC's evolving mission in serving the needs of a diverse audience; effects of technological developments in "Phase I"; the impact of the Internet in "Phase II"; extending the database electronically and to nonprint media; dealing with an inadequate budget; and maintaining quality. Several appendices include interview questions and interviewees and chronological information of names and events in ERIC's development. (Contains a subject and a personal name index.) (AEF)