Mark,
This does not answer your question about policies for discarding microfiche but my question is - does ERIC really provide all their ED documents online? Ive come across on more than one occasion instances whereby documents are not available online yet?? and as we do not have a reader I have no way in which to access this material.

Rachel Ben-Eliezer
Serials Librarian and Interlibrary Loan Services
David Yellin College of Education Library
POB 3578
Jerusalem, ISRAEL
Telefax.: 02-6558180
E-Mail: rachelb@dyellin.ac.il

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Mark L. Ferguson
Sent: Monday, June 02, 2008 4:47 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] What to do with ERIC microfiche?

Has anyone devised a policy, and rationale for the policy, on what to do
with old ERIC microfiche?  Our library serves a small Catholic liberal
arts college with a dynamic educational program.  We had a standing
order for microfiche from ERIC until 2004 when ERIC stopped producing
the microfiche and provided the documents for free online.  Our
collection is huge, dating back to 1967 although certainly spotty,
especially as you go back in years.

While the ERIC database is critically important to our Education
department, the microfiche collection is never used, and becoming more
and more dated as the years go by.  For this reason I would like to get
rid of it, but its a lot of microfiche to discard and I would like to
check all my sources before I move on this.

What have other people done with old ERIC microfiche?  I would be very
interested to find out.

Mark Ferguson
Periodicals librarian, Mahoney Library
College of  Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ