This paper provides a brief history of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), as well as an overview of the present status of the ERIC system, i.e., its management, technical operations, current products and services, current plans, and projected new activities. After an account of the legislative mandate that resulted in the formation of ERIC, the organization's beginnings and early developmental history are recounted. A management perspective on the present state of ERIC is then presented, which includes an outline of ERIC's organizational mission, objectives, and functions; a summary of ERIC's structure; and a description of the governmental environment within which ERIC functions. The operational aspects of ERIC are also addressed, with specific attention devoted to ERIC system components (Central ERIC, the ERIC Clearinghouses, the ERIC Processing and Reference Facility, the ERIC Document Reproduction Service, the CIJE Publisher, the U.S. Government Printing Office, and online retrieval vendors), the roles of system components, controls for system coordination, and output products and services. Prospects for future ERIC activities are then addressed. Accompanying the text is a set of nine figures, tables, and graphs. (JL)