Question (Susan Taylor, 10/3/2003)

This new idea of electronic lab notebook swept into our company a few weeks ago and we picked it up, began to explored it to some level, and now want to know what others are doing out there. Overall, most large companies won't touch it because of the electronic signature factor, but I would like to hear from the group whether you have given this idea much thought or have attempted to implement a system.

Responses

We found the final say is our Legal Department. If they don't feel that they will meet legal requirements and stand up in court, you will find yourself in the situation of keeping dual books, one electronic and one paper for the legal department. Carolyne Sidey

It would be interesting to know what kind of acceptance these have had and see some case studies. This group has done work in this area http://www.censa.org/

Someone from DuPont used to lead a Consortium for Electronic Notebooks.

The chemists who work here say they are most comfortable writing in their books and consider it more convenient than doing their reports on a computer. However...they would also like to be able to search the full text of their notebooks. Their monthly reports which they do on their computers are often the only lead to specific projects in their notebooks. Some labs have staff (librarians do this as well) who index or abstract notebooks and/or technical reports to create an electronic index for searching. Madeline Douglass

We have them within DuPont, but they haven't been accepted or adopted by everyone yet. They are still in a pilot program, I believe.

The original hurdle was the electronic signature, but we do seem to have that issue hashed out now. As was said earlier, the Legal Department will decide when that requirement has been met and until then you will need duplicate books. There are still some issues about what can be incorporated into a book and what cannot so we still see instances of duplication. Any time the issue of duplicate record keeping arises, the interest in keeping an e-notebook wanes.

To the best of my knowledge the e-notebooks are on a dedicated server at the moment. However, as they are adopted more extensively one server will not be sufficient to meet the storage demands. Who will own the server(s), who will pay for the server(s), where it (they) will be located, and who will control it (them) are issues we are currently grappling. I haven't heard of many researchers who are looking forward to the change, though I am sure there are some out there. Donna Siebold

As of Oct 1, 2000, electronic signatures are legal (although individual corporations may still have departments that object).

Here's a link to an article on electronic signatures. http://tinyurl.com/pvvw

A couple of key quotes -
"The law, known as the Electronic Signatures in Global and International Commerce Act ..."

"The most significant legal effect of the new e-signature law is to make electronic contracts and signatures as legally valid as paper contracts."

"To protect consumers from potential abuses, some legal documents and contracts are exempt from the e-signature law. In other words, electronic versions of the following documents are invalid and unenforceable: wills, codicils and testamentary trusts; documents relating to adoption, divorce and other family law matters; court orders, notices and other court documents such as pleadings or motions; notices of cancellation or termination of utility services; notices of default, repossession, foreclosure or eviction; notices of cancellation
or termination of health or life insurance benefits; product recall notices affecting health or safety; and documents required by law to accompany the transportation of hazardous materials."

"The law establishes only that electronic signatures in all their forms qualify as signatures in the legal sense."

Sarah A. V. Kirby