A number of on-campus and vendor provided resources are available to UW-Madison researchers using the LabArchives ELN service.
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Help Documentation
- Search the DoIT Knowledge Base Articles
- View the help documentation and knowledgebase at LabArchives
- Download the LabArchives New User Start Guide (PDF)
- Sign up for an instructional Webinar from LabArchives
- Watch the LabArchives tutorial videos on YouTube
Campus ELN Users Community of Practice
All campus ELN users are invited to participate in our MS Teams Channel! This is a place for the community to ask questions, discuss collaborations, and share how you use the ELN.
Contact LabArchives
LabArchives provides direct support for UW-Madison users who experience issues or have questions about functionality and features of the software.
For technical questions about the LabArchives platform and features, contact the LabArchives Support Center:
Email: support@labarchives.com
Phone: (800) 653-5016 (8:00am – 7:00pm CST, M-F)
For login or access issues, please contact the ELN Service Team.
Training Opportunities
- Webinars from LabArchives – register online
- Schedule customized training with LabArchives by sending an email to support@labarchives.com. A LabArchives representative will reply to arrange a time and topics you would like included in the session. Topics range from basic use of the notebook to more advanced features such as widget scripting.
- Schedule a meeting with a member of the ELN Service Team – contact us
FAQ
Q: Is the ELN only for researchers working in labs?
A: No! Researchers working outside of a traditional Principal Investigator (PI) led laboratory setting can still use the campus ELN. ELNs are tools for documenting the research process and may be useful for keeping track of research workflows and data in many disciplines, including the humanities and social sciences. If you are working under a PI or faculty adviser, you will need to get their approval to use the ELN.
Q: Is the Classroom Edition of LabArchives included in the campus license?
A: No, campus only licenses the Professional Research version of LabArchives. However, several courses on campus are using the Classroom Edition; in those instances, the students pay a semester fee for access to the course notebook. Please contact the ELN Service Team for more information.
Q: What if I have files that are too large to upload to LabArchives?
A: The maximum file size for upload to the LabArchives ELN is 4GB. To include larger files in your ELN document, you will need to store them elsewhere and link to them from an ELN entry. It may be useful to include information about the server location and file names in the ELN entries that point to linked files. Remember that if you move a linked file, the link will break in LabArchives – so it’s good to have a plan in place for file storage in and out of the ELN.
Q: Can I count on UW-Madison providing a free ELN for campus?
A: Yes. The ELN is currently funded under the Campus Software Library, and campus is committed providing ELN access to researchers. However, as with all software licensed by campus, there may be need for us to change platforms and move from LabArchives to another ELN. If this happens, the ELN Service Team will be in contact with current users and will facilitate the move between tools.
Q: How will I access my notebooks if there is an outage or loss of connectivity?
A: LabArchives, like other web-based services, is dependent on Internet connectivity. If you are offline, or the LabArchives service is down, you will not be able to edit or access the most recent version of your notebooks. Therefore, it is recommended that you establish a backup strategy that includes exporting and archiving notebooks (both PDF and XML formats can be exported). In addition, keeping secondary copies of data and other types of files in another location may ensure your access to critical files in the event of an outage. Note that these are good backup strategies even if no outages occur.
Q: Why should I use an ELN instead of Microsoft OneNote, Box, or Google Drive?
A: Using the ELN to store your digital research data offers a number of enhanced features and benefits over these other tools:
- Higher level of security and and legal protection
- Permanency of digital data
- Version control
- Assists in compliance with UW, State, Federal policies
- Signing and Witnessing
- Facilitated collaboration between group members, as well as with individuals outside the UW-Madsion
- Continued access for lab members after they leave the university (Box, Google, and Microsoft accounts are deleted shortly after leaving)