In early August, 2012 ERIC database administrators discovered that sensitive personally identifiable information appeared in some full text documents contained in the ERIC database collection. Specifically, social security numbers and other highly sensitive information were found in multiple documents and in a way that could not easily be isolated. For that reason, they had to temporarily disable access to many full text documents (text from the ERIC website).  While the ERIC staff is seeking to restore access to documents as soon as possible, it may take a while. In the meantime, the SPU library has developed the following steps to locate the full text of ERIC documents:

1. Check the item record in the ERIC database for potential external links to the full text.
2. Check the web using Google Scholar or other search engines by typing the title of the article (in quotes) and the author’s last name into the search box.
3. If the item is book-length, use the SPU WorldCat catalog on the library homepage to see if a print copy can be acquired in the SPU library, SUMMIT, or through Interlibrary Loan.
4. Most ERIC EDxxxxxx documents with a date between 1966-2004 are available on microfiche which SPU owns. To acquire a reprint of a microfiche document, fill out the Microfilm Reprint Request form.  Please include the ERIC document number (EDxxxxxx) in the comments section of the form.
5. If the document is not available online, or on fiche, and is published after 2004:
   1. Attempt to email the author.  Some authors are willing to send researchers a copy of their document.  The ERIC database item record sometimes includes author information.
   2. Use the ERIC Request a PDF form to ask ERIC to prioritize the release of the document.

–Cynthia Strong/ Librarian for Education and Business