ERIC - the Education Resources Information Center - is an internet-based digital library of education research and information sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education. 

ERIC provides access to bibliographic records of journal and non-journal literature indexed from 1966 to the present. 

The ERIC collection includes bibliographic records (citations, abstracts, and other pertinent data) for more than 1.2 million items indexed since 1966, including journal articles, books,  research syntheses, conference papers, technical reports, 
policy papers, and other education-related materials.

ERIC currently indexes more than 600 journals, the majority of which are indexed comprehensively — every article in each issue is included in ERIC. Some journals are indexed selectively — only those articles that are education-related are selected for indexing. 

In addition, contributors have given ERIC permission to display more than 115,000 full-text materials in PDF format - at no charge. These materials are generally part of the recent "grey literature" such as conference papers and reports, rather than journal articles and books. Most materials published 2004 and forward include links to other sources, including publishers' Web sites.