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Introduction
The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC; see http://eric.ed.gov) database provides access to what no doubt continues to be the "world's largest digital library of education literature" (ERIC). Sponsored by the US Department of Education, ERIC has been the premier source of education-related documents and journal articles for scholars, practitioners and students since its inception in 1966. ERIC's reputation for comprehensive, in-depth and consistent, high quality indexing of all types of education materials was built upon a "decentralized and relatively autonomous" network of 16 subject clearinghouses associated with colleges and universities across the country ([3] Burchinal, 2003, p. 683). Each of these ERIC clearninghouses was responsible for collecting, indexing and abstracting information sources in specific fields, ranging from assessment and evaluation (University of Maryland) to elementary and early childhood education (University of Illinois) to information and technology (Syracuse University) ([3] Burchinal, 2003, p. 684). This decentralized structure and its "diversity of experts" produced a depth of indexing that researchers had come to rely on as "a benchmark in the field" ([5] McMillen, 2003). Given this long history of trusted and reliable access to education information and scholarship, the announcement by the Department of Education, in spring 2003, that it would close down the clearinghouse system and had plans to "streamline" and "modernize" the ERIC database raised great concerns from education scholars and official protests from "more than 46 national education organizations, ranging from the National PTA to the American Library Association" ([4] Corby, 2004, p. 37).
The significance of these changes in ERIC and the broader implications of the restructuring, reorganization and "reform" of the US Department of Education are well documented: see [1] Adler (2003), [2] Ariew (2005)[1] and ERIC Development News[2] (available at: www.lib.msu.edu/corby/education/doe.htm). This paper is more narrowly focused. Specifically, it reports on two comparative studies assessing the impact of the closing of the ERIC database in December 2003 and its subsequent reopening as a "new" ERIC database in September 2004. The primary purpose is to address scholarly concerns about the performance of this "new" ERIC and provide reference librarians and those who teach education research a means of evaluating and selecting alternative databases based on their relative coverage of major education journals. Alternative research strategies are also discussed in light of...