LabArchives: Home

LabArchives is a general-purpose electronic lab notebook (ELN) for research groups on campus. It is cloud-based and can run on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Apps are also available for use with tablets and phones—both Android and iOS.

NOTE: The campus license covers LabArchives ELN Education, ELN for Research, and laboratory inventory management systems. These are available, free of charge to assist researchers in managing their research.

1. It is a secure platform - See additional information from LabArchives.
   • SOC 2 Type II certified
   • HIPAA & FERPA compliant
   • Approved by the University ISO for sensitive data
2. To improve the efficiency of your research group.
3. To improve communication among members of your research group.
4. You are collaborating with other research groups and need an efficient way to communicate.
5. Managing both paper and electronic data and records can be cumbersome.
6. You need complete audit control to protect IP and to be able to determine who did what and when.
7. You do not want to worry about your research being lost or leaving campus
8. You need to be in contact with your team when away from the University.
The agency funding the research requires a data management plan.
9. You need to be able to sign and freeze entries in your lab notebook.

If your research primarily involves code, simulation, and/or modeling, LabArchives may not be a good fit. Center for High-Performance Computing now offers Jupyter Notebook and GIT to support documenting code.

For information on additional storage options for research purposes on campus see the Library Guide, Data Storage for Research Activities.

Although LabArchives includes the word "lab" in its name, your research does not have to be conducted in a lab to use LabArchives. Many non-lab-oriented disciplines may use LabArchives. All you need is a PI to take responsibility for the notebook. This does not preclude students from conducting senior year or capstone projects using LabArchives for their work.

The UU Research Handbook Chapter 9 states:

The PI is responsible for:

• The collection, management, maintenance, and retention of research data
• Adopting an orderly system of data organization
• Communicating the chosen system to all members of a research group.
• Establishing and maintaining procedures for the protection of essential records in the event of a natural disaster or other emergency.

Therefore, it is the PI who initiates and owns the account. Afterward, the PI can invite members of the research group to the account. The PI can then designate an administrator to share the work of carrying out user management, permissions, and notebook creation and stewardship. If the PI does not own the account and the administrator does, then when the administrator moves on to a new position the PI will have no access to LabArchives.

To create an account open the tab, "Setting up an Account".