LabArchives: Before Setting Up an Account

• If your research group is made up of postdocs and graduate students trying to complete their work to meet a deadline, then you will have trouble nudging them to start using LabArchives as they end their projects. We would suggest that you require new people coming into the research group to use LabArchives and not the people trying to complete their work.
• If you are teaching classes, it may be more advantageous for you to wait until summer when you have less of a workload.
• Initiating LabArchives at the beginning of a project is ideal, but may not be practical.
• For new faculty, initiating LabArchives as you set up your research is ideal.
• Take into consideration that you and your research group are learning a new tool and it can take a few months to feel comfortable using LabArchives.

• Is the workflow based on each individual or each project (Fig. A)?
• Are you a one-person research group or a multiple-person research group (Fig. B)?

NOTE: If you find the way you set up the notebooks doesn't work for your team, you can easily change the structure.

• Do you have the space for laptops or tablets?
• Do you work in a "dirty" lab where you must wear a mask? Electronics do not fare well in these environments. Try placing your tablet or laptop in a Ziploc plastic bag.
• Do you have a good procedure for naming folders and files? Check out Naming Files and Folders for best practices.

• The PI initiates the account using UU email account.
• After an account is set up the PI can invite members of the research group to the account using their UU email accounts. The PI can now designate an administrator to share the work of carrying out user management, permissions, and notebook creation and stewardship. The PI will also be able to assign research members to a level of accessibility.