The tale of two ERICS: Factors influencing the development of the first ERIC and its transformation into a national system

This article describes how the original ERIC was established as a conventional, centralized information center within the Office of Education in 1964, and how this initial ERIC was transformed from into a decentralized national system about 18 months later. The history of the two ERICs also illustrates how knowledge and expertise—in this case, that represented by advances in information systems technology and its applications—combined with interpersonal relationships within a bureaucracy, federal funding decisions, and organizational changes to shape the development of a major national information service. The time period covered by the article is from 1959, when planning for the first ERIC began, to June 1967, when the decentralized system became fully operational. Most of the description and analysis, however, is limited to the 1965–66 period, when the decentralized system was conceptualized and implemented. Important developments in ERIC since 1967 are also described.