I have usedthe old version of SPIN and IRIS and the OFP system that
is somewhat of a dinosaur.  My favorite for working with PI's at the
beginning of their searches, however, is the DIALOG CD service.  The
searches can be very intuitive and there are a bunch of data
 resources in the files.  I bought it when getting printouts
 from SPINwas still such a hassle and I could sit with a PI and
 print out reports more easily with DIALOG.
 I am considering getting the newversino of SPIN because they
 are considering a special price for a consortium of schools
 her in Missouri (we sort of whined "no money" a long time and
 they really started cutting the price).  If I do buy SPIN, I
 will dump some of the more marginal paper-based reports.
 Spanky
> Judy Fredenberg, Celia Walker, and I have had a few discussions about which
> computer-based information system is best.  I have both, Ceila has Iris (and
> is a strong advocate!), and I'm not sure what Judy has.  Judy and I though
> it would be interesting to see what the rest of you think about what is
> available.  I can start off the discussion with my own observations.   Keep
> in mind that I just started in March and am new to the res. admin. game!
>
> Infoed offers SPIN, which is easier to use and much more flexible than IRIS.
>  You can run searches by keyword, sponsor, deadline date, award type, and
> many other types of information and you can view,  You can run keyword
> searches using Boolean logic, you can use any combination of fields to
> search, and you can send the results to the screen, to print, or to  file.
>  You can also determine what kind of information will be contained in the
> output..  It also has it's companion program, SPAS Faculty, which will store
> information about faculty, and you can run a match between SPIN and SPAS and
> automatically generate matches for faculty who have a profile in the
> database.  The idea is to run matches every time you get updates from Infoed
> for SPIN.
>
> IRIS is offered by the University of Illinois and is an on-line dial up
> program, rather than a PC based program like Infoed.  IRIS is less expensive
> and they are usually willing to contract with a system of universities (in
> our case the contract is with the State Board of Regents) so you can split
> the bill.  Included in the price is a subscription to the CBD, which is
> updated daily.  In addition to being economical, it requires no maintenance
> (unlike Infoed).  However, it is less user friendly, and quite a bit less
> flexible.  It doesn't have a prepackaged program for faculty profile or
> match capability.
>
> I have found that I like both.  SPIN has so much flexibility and sparkley
> features compared to IRIS, but I have found that IRIS is generally easier to
> use if you are looking for programs in highly specific areas of physical
> sciences and engineering.  The keyword thesaurus for IRIS gets very
> specific, so you can find good matched.  There is a new version of the SPIN
> thesaurus that is less general, but I haven't looked too close yet.
>
> I haven't been able to see very much difference in terms of content.  I
> think both programs cover the same funding opportunities for the most part.
>
> What do you think?