Presented in this executive summary are some extracts to highlight the five parts of a report that investigated the online use of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) data base and the impact of free text or controlled vocabulary searching on its design. Included is a collection of all the suggestions and recommendations for the redesign of the ERIC record, ERIC online data base, and the retrieval system features which affect retrieval of ERIC online, as well as the significant tables, figures, and illustrations from that report. (Author/JD)