Hillman Library CLOSED to the Public May 1–7, 2025

Changes to ERIC Education Database

Education Resources Information Center, or ERIC, is a bibliographic and full-text database of education research and information, including peer-reviewed journals and reports from education organizations. This database, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, is used by researchers in education and other social sciences fields.

According to the ERIC Help Desk, resources covered by this database will be reduced effective April 24, 2025. When asked about content becoming unavailable, the ERIC Help Desk’s response was as follows:


“The Department of Education is working with the Department of Government Efficiency to “reduce overall Federal spending” and “reallocate spending to promote efficiency” (EO 14222). As a result, the number of records added to the ERIC collection will be significantly reduced going forward. The number of actively cataloged sources will be reduced by approximately 45% starting April 24, 2025.  Subject matter was not considered during the process to identify which sources would be made inactive.  Please note that all records currently in ERIC will remain available.  There has been a delay in notifying publishers impacted by this content reduction due to the government reduction in force. Once publishers have been notified, a final list of retained sources (journals and non-journals) will be posted.”

This is a developing situation; the University of Pittsburgh Library System does not yet know the full extent of this change. While there is no direct replacement for ERIC indexing, University of Pittsburgh Library System librarians are investigating alternatives to ERIC. The University of Pittsburgh Library System currently subscribes to these databases covering topic in education. Librarians are happy to consult on search strategies to maximize finding literature related to your topic of interest, and can be reached using Ask Us.