#takebackeric

So, I'm a relatively low-key person, but I've been pretty frustrated with the lack of PDFs/full-text articles in ERIC.  You can learn more about ERIC's removal of many of their PDFs here (http://www.eric.ed.gov/pdf_availability.html).

After seeing EBSCO's tweet, which included a nicely-edited video about their new parking lot, I got to thinking about how many man-hours might have gone into that project and, conversely, how many PDFs could have been examined & uploaded in that same amount of time had those man-hours been used in another way.  (I know, EBSCO & ERIC are two different entities that just work together...but still.)

That's when I got to thinking.  What if librarians and ERIC users all worked together to PDF-request the heck out of ERIC? Seriously. I'm putting out a call on Twitter, using the hashtag #takebackeric, because this is a service we are paying for, that receives government funds (hellooo, Eric.ed.gov), that really should be available to our learning communities.  I don't have all the details worked out, but right now I'm thinking we declare one day in the future (preferably not at the very beginning of the semester, because I know we're all busy) where we search in ERIC, find 10 or 15 articles that aren't currently available and request that they be made available using the ERIC PDF request form (http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/contactUs/requestPDF.jsp).

We can also send emails, but those can be pretty general, and they'll likely just send back a form letter anyway.  If we specifically request articles, who knows, maybe something will happen and those articles will start turning back up in the database! So, who is in?!

Seriously?
https://twitter.com/EBSCOPublishing/status/284405131649363969 

I know there are huge things going on in the world right now (war, famine, politics, abuse, violence), and I'm not trying to overlook these things. I'm just trying to work together to see if, maybe, we can fix something small that might help make an impact in the education of one of our students.