Digital Research Notebooks

There are a number of DRN features unique to UQ. Check out the following FAQs for help:

• I have an existing LabArchives account (created before 1st June 2019)
• How many notebooks can I request?
• How do I add or remove collaborators on my DRN?
• Can I transfer my notebook to another person?
• What use rights do I have as a UQ based user?
• I created a LabArchives account but can't request a notebook
• Can I allow a collaborator not listed on my UQRDM project record, access to my notebook?
• Can I still work with Microsoft products (Word, Excel & Powerpoint) in LabArchives?
• Can I use Inbox to upload the data?
• Can I link my notebook from deleted UQRDM record to the new record?

For all other Digital Research Notebook support, please use this guide or the LabArchives Knowledgebase.

For UQ users, you can request one notebook per UQRDM project record.

Changes to who can access your digital research notebook can only be made via the UQRDM. 

To add or remove collaborators (or owners), open up the project record in UQRDM.  Use the dashboard to add or remove project members and collaborators. This will automatically add or remove those researchers from the LabArchives DRN linked to that project. You must also assign access rights and permissions for each collaborator being added to the DRN.

For more instructions refer to the UQ Research Data Manager guide's updating a record page.  

The project record owner and lead can add or remove collaborators from an RDM project record at any time during the project. As the DRN is linked to the RDM project record, all these changes will be implemented automatically.

If you have more than one DRN, each linked to separate projects, you must open each project record in UQRDM and make any collaborator changes via the dashboard.  

As a UQ research notebook is attached to a UQRDM research project, the project Owner or the project Lead will be the "admin users" of the notebook.  When the Owner or the Lead changes for a particular UQRDM research project, the "admin users" for the notebook attached to the project will automatically change. 

In other words, there is no manual process involved to "transfer" the notebook to another person. Managing project owners, project leads, and project collaborators can all be done in UQRDM.

The UQRDM project Owner or the Lead are the "admin users" of the notebook, and as such are the only ones to have full rights to manage the notebook.  This includes a number of settings, such as managing users signing rights and comments. For more information, visit the LabArchives knowledgebase. 

Note: You need to add or remove collaborators in your UQRDM project record via rdm.uq.edu.au.

UQ users need to go through UQRDM (rdm.uq.edu.au) to request a LabArchives notebook:

1. Request a UQRDM record and indicate that you require a Digital Research Notebook.  Detailed instructions can be found under Request a Notebook
2. When you receive an email from UQRDM, click the link to go to the LabArchives website and login
3. Select “I have an existing LabArchives account already” option
4. Entered your UQ email address and UQ password
5. Click “Link Existing Account”

Contact LabArchives online support if you have problems.

It is possible to add additional collaborators not listed on the UQRDM project record to the notebook, and give them access to the whole notebook, a folder, page or single entry. These collaborators will be listed as "guests" within the notebook and access can only be given for 60 days. It is also possible to give read only (view) or editing access. For further instructions on how to set this up, please see the relevant LabArchives knowledgebase article. 

Note: Users that are added as guests to a notebook will never have access to the UQRDM storage for a project. 

Yes! Lab Archives notebooks are highly compatible with Microsoft Office products.

There are two options. You can open a Microsoft Office document directly within the DRN environment.  The plug-in provides most of the functionality, but not all of the functionality and features of Microsoft Word and Excel.

If you have more complex documents with lots of formatting, cell-based calculations, etc., then try the Microsoft Office Plug-in to upload to your notebook. So you work in the desk-top version of your document, then save it to directly your DRN. The plug-in is available via the Software Centre on UQ computers. LabArchives Knowledgebase provides detailed instructions on how to use the Microsoft Plug-in to save your documents to your DRN, for both Mac and Windows.

To login MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel, or Folder Monitor, follow the steps:

1. At the login page, select the Australian server https://au-mynotebook.labarchives.com
2. Leave the Authentication method as Direct User Login (default)
3. The user will then be brought to the usual LabArchives login page and either enters their email address or selects The University of Queensland from the list of institutions
4. The user is then brought to the UQ SSO page and logs in with your UQ Authenticate credentials

Then they can go ahead with using Folder Monitor or saving files to/opening files from LabArchives in Word/Excel/Powerpoint

The LabArchives Inbox feature to upload data is disabled for UQ users due to technical constraints.  Please contact data@library.uq.edu.au for further information or assistance.

If you have a UQRDM record that you would like to delete but  want to keep the DRN attached to it, as part of  an ongoing research project,  there is a way.  You can create a new record in UQRDM and have your existing DRN linked to the new record following these steps:

1. Create a new UQRDM record, wait until the record is approved and the storage is provided. Please do not select "I would like a Digital Research Notebook for my record" when creating the new record.
2. On the new record, add the same collaborators you had on the old record (skip this step if you do not have any collaborators. If you want to add  any new collaborators, please wait till step 4 is completed).
3. Email ITS Service Desk (help@its.uq.edu.au) and ask:
   • to have the notebook transferred from the old record to the new record (include the UQRDM record ID/shortcode), and
   • to delete the old UQRDM record and the storage
4. You will receive an email once the transfer is completed and your old UQRDM record is deleted.

If you need any assistance, please contact data@library.uq.edu.au.