Transitioning a Lab to the LabArchives ELN

When transitioning a lab to the LabArchives ELN there are a few things to consider as you setup your notebooks. 

Decide on a Notebook Structure

You can create as many notebooks as you like and you can organize the notebook through the folder structure. You can rename, move or remove any item in the Notebook Navigator (or notebook structure). For more information on Creating your Notebook, click here. For information on creating a Folder Structure, click here.

• Is your lab focused on projects or grants?
  Project-based or Grant-based notebooks:  You may want to create a notebook according to a specific project and add lab members assigned to that project.  You can set up folders for project goals, a folder for each lab member, or organize the notebook by date.
• Does each researcher need their own Notebook?
  Researcher-based notebooks:  You may want to create a notebook for each member of the lab. This is a great way to manage small labs because it can be customized for each individual. Each lab member can create their own folder structure based on the projects they are working on.
• Do you want to share common documents like lab protocols, forms, inventory?
  Lab-based notebook: Some labs prefer to keep all work in a single notebook and use folders and subfolders to divide the notebook. This is a great way to get started with LabArchives and makes it easy to add new lab members. 

For more information on setting up your lab notebooks, click here.

Create Notebook Policies and Control Access to the Notebook

• Who is the Notebook Owner?
  In most cases, a PI or Lab Manager will own all notebooks and share these notebooks with other members of the team. You can transfer ownership of a notebook through Notebook Settings and User Management. For more information on notebook transfers, click here.
• Who is allowed to share data with others?
  The Owner of the notebook, Account Administrator, and Notebook Administrator can share the notebook with others. Administrators can also make changes to the Notebook Settings. Typically, the Administrator is a PI or Lab Manager. To avoid unwanted sharing, you may prefer to assign the member role of "User." For more information on roles, click here.

• Do you want to setup "Can View" or "Can Edit" rights to different parts of a notebook?
  You can setup custom permissions throughout an entire notebook. You can share anything from a single entry to an entire notebook and provide members with edit, view, or no access to different parts of the notebook. This can be useful if you want to share data but prevent the member from editing the data.
• Do you want to allow page signing or witnessing in the notebook?
  Page Signing and witnessing can permanently freeze the page to indicate a final version. This is a great way to increase supervisor involvement and prevent future edits to a page. For more information on Page Signing, click here.