A limited number of ERIC full-text documents are available at this time due to privacy concerns about information contained in some of the collection. Although the documents in ERIC had been publicly available in microfiche for many years, the advent of the Internet has amplified the possibility that someone could make improper use of information in these ERIC documents.

We are seeking to restore access to documents as soon as possible. Our number one concern is to ensure that any full-text documents we provide do not violate any individual’s privacy. We believe that if any of us were to have our privacy compromised by an ERIC document, we would want the same consideration.

I would like to know more about the privacy concerns that prompted ERIC to dismantle access temporarily. Fister’s example—the two or three college alumni who are not pleased when links surface from digitized old campus newspapers detailing their youthful exploits—is somewhat suggestive. Specifically, a Google search for someone may well turn up a snippet of copy in which that name appears. In any case, it is also telling that the microfiche may now no longer be available or easily accessible in one’s library—either discarded or stored offsite when the ERIC database took hold.