Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELNs) show a lot of promise, and it is not surprising that more and more companies are embracing this technology. ELNs can make projects more organized, streamlined, easier to search and share, and ultimately, save a lot of time and make research better. The University of Maryland Libraries in College Park started introducing ELNs to students and faculty in 2011. Classes were offered to all students and faculty, and different models of ELNs were demonstrated. Parts of library instruction classes taught in one undergraduate and one graduate course were devoted to the use and benefits of ELNs. In the 2013 Spring semester, a chemistry librarian partnered with a course instructor to develop a pilot project for an instrumental undergraduate chemistry course. For this project, a LabArchives ELN (Classroom Edition) was used as a model. All experimental protocols and reports from a hard-copy course handbook were digitized and uploaded to an ELN course notebook. Students had to use the ELN to access experiment protocols; complete and submit lab reports; open, upload, edit, and share Word, Excel, PDF files; and demonstrate that they had mastered the basic features of the ELN. This presentation will discuss the results from the pilot project and outline possible future strategies for introducing this advanced technology more broadly to chemistry majors and graduate courses.

Introducing Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELNs) to students and researchers at the University of Maryland College Park

246th National Meeting (2013)

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