Inertia and coin flip is right.  Generally folks choose because of
their comfort in one set of descriptors, format, etc.  I've yet to
see a screaming big difference in any of them.  All have to be
researched, as you don't know who did the updates or, with accuracy,
when.  Still, they are a time saver on the front end of a search and
running one or two is worth the cash.

spanky

>Dan-
>
>The three databases you mention are probably still the most
>comprehensive.  We subscribe to two of them but only the full
>package (e.g. email notification and other extras) for one.  [I am
>not saying which ones we use because I can't see that much
>difference between them and our decision was made, pretty much, by
>inertia and coin flip.]
>
>I would call each company, request a trial look and see period, and
>run some sample searches.
>
>Charlie
>
>At 08:41 AM 10/11/02 -0400, you wrote:
>>We are a private, non-profit environmental research organization,
>>seeking advice/opinions about sources of funding opportunities. We
>>have about 40 PhDs, total research staff of 120.  We are in the
>>process of investigating IRIS, SPIN, and Community of Science.
>>Have been off this list for awhile, but checked archives and did
>>not see much discussion about this topic when ScienceWise went
>>down. Any advice about relative merits of these sources would be
>>appreciated, as well as any pointers to other providers. Thanks in
>>advance.
>>Mr. Dan Snyder
>>Administrative Director
>>Patrick Center for Environmental Research
>>Academy of Natural Sciences
>>1900 Ben Franklin Parkway
>>Philadelphia, PA  19103-1195
>>
>>
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University of Arkansas at Little Rock
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