DataFlash: Electronic Lab Notebooks

I recently had the opportunity to listen to a webinar about electronic lab notebooks called, “Using electronic laboratory notebooks in the academic life sciences: a group leader’s experience on how they can make research teams more efficient.” Not having used electronic laboratory notebooks (eLN) myself, I was curious about their functionality, whether librarians are involved in their adoption, and whether they contribute to better data management. Paper-based laboratory note books have been used by researchers for centuries as a way to document their observations, experiments and procedures. A perfect example is Alexander Graham Bell’s lab notebook documenting the discovery of the first working telephone. Alexander Graham Bell’s Lab Notebook (Image is in public domain) And many researchers still use paper-based products to document their work. Within the last decade, however, a wide range of electronic lab notebooks have become available. While some researchers choose to use simple, and inexpensive tools like Microsoft Word, Microsoft OneNote, or Evernote, there are products specifically designed for the research laboratory. Some of the more highly rated eLNs suitable for all scientific fields include Labfolder, SciNote, and LabArchives. Other products are designed to meet the requirements of a particular area of research. For example, LabGuru is designed for the life sciences while BIOVIA was developed for chemistry. Prices range from free and open sou...
Source: Dragonfly - Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Tags: Data Science Technology Data_Science Source Type: news