A review of pilot studies of electronic lab notebooks at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Otago

1. Adopting an electronic lab notebook:
Lessons from two case studies
1
Rory Macneil
Research Space
07/12/2012

2. Overview
2
 Why universities are becoming interested in ELNs
 Wisconsin and Otago examples
 Pilot study best practices
 Key success factors

3. Why universities are becoming interested
3
 Growing interest in ELNs among researchers
 New generation of ELNs that are
 Usable and useful for researchers
 Easy for IT to deploy and support
 Affordable for academic institutions
 Universities are now able to handle ‘enterprise’ software
 Investigation
 Evaluation
 Purchase
 Deployment and support

4. Wisconsin and Otago examples
4
 Wisconsin
https://academictech.doit.wisc.edu/files/ELN_pilot_report_UWMadison.pdf
 Otago
https://labnotebook.wiki.otago.ac.nz/Electronic_Laboratory_Notebook_Pilot

5. Pilot study step by step process
5
1) Form working team
2) Learn from others, e.g. Wisconsin and Otago
3) Informally assess researcher interest
4) Conduct survey, e.g.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ELN_Otago
5) Select one or more ELNs for trial
1) Informal review and trial by working team, or
2) RFP
6) Select ‘examplar’ labs to participate
7) Train participants
8) Conduct supported trial
9) Conduct post-trial user-experience survey

6. Key success factors
6
1) Represent key constituencies on the working team, e.g.
1) IT
2) CIO
3) Commercialization office
4) Research librarians
5) Research policy and admin
2) Involve researchers at all stages
3) Select ELNs designed for academic environments
4) Identify researcher ‘champions’ early on
5) Provide good training and support
6) Maintain good communication with ELN vendor(s)