Chris and Mary, 
 
    Apologies for getting into this thread rather late (5 April)
 
    Some thoughts on electronic lab notebooks.  There is a gap between
what the recordkeeping systems at many laboratories can capture in terms
of the documentation of primary experimental and observational research,
and how many, perhaps most, scientists and engineers actually create and
use that documentation.  At this laboratory, recordkeeping survey
results show that many technically savvy researchers are devising
electronic recording and documentation methods for their experimental
work that are beyond the reach of our ability to capture and preserve
them.  (One survey respondent commented that the administrative staff in
his area "fears electrons", which leaves him with no recourse but to do
things his own way.)   
 
    Other scientists continue to record experimental data in the old
way, in bound hard copy notebooks, but the record here shows that the
number of bound lab notebooks charged out and returned has been
declining for at least 10 years, and many notebooks are returned with no
data recorded in them.  In our surveys we have seen comments to the
effect that it is prohibitively difficult and time consuming to
transcribe or duplicate experimental data derived electronically into a
lab notebook.  
 
    There have been a number of efforts to develop an electronic
equivalent to the traditional bound laboratory notebook, and I'm sure
you're aware of some of them at least.  One of the most promising I've
seen is the DoE Notebook 2000 project undertaken by researchers at a
number of DoE labs, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest
National Lab among others.  There is a good summary of the project on an
ORNL website you can find here
(http://www.csm.ornl.gov/~geist/java/applets/enote/).  This site has
been up for a while but I notice that it was last updated on 19 January,
so it seems that the project is still active.   Another site that
provides information on the principals is at
http://www.csm.ornl.gov/enote/status00.html.  This site may not be
active and I 'm not sure of the current status of the individuals named
on it.  I do think Al Geist, from ORNL is still involved.  I have spoken
to him on occasion.  He told me that when the ELN concept was devised,
he and his colleagues involved the ORNL records management staff in
their work and tried to insure that any lab notebook software they
developed would meet Federal recordkeeping requirements.  
 
    If you haven't already seen this information, the ornl.gov/geist
site in particular may interest you.  
 
Dean Bundy, CRM
Naval Research Lab
 
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