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For scientists and researchers, lab notebooks are indispensable tools. In the thick of their work, paper lab books are often the most convenient way for them to record ideas, hypotheses, and results from experiments, research, and field work. The problem, though, is that lab books are made from paper. As such, they’re very susceptible to damage, not to mention that if it isn’t backed up in some way, losing the notebook means the information inside is gone for good.

Lab notebooks are staple tools for scientists and researchers. Many people at different research facilities, large companies and institutes of higher learning in and around Boston and Cambridge rely on them when doing experiments, research and field work. But here’s the problem: lab notebooks present many potential nightmare scenarios regarding lost data and misplaced information, virtually all of which become things of the past with the help of lab book scanning.

Leaders in the biotech, pharmaceutical and research industries need to safeguard their documents against any unexpected calamities that can set development back for months or even years.

Book scanning is the optimal way for research labs, biomedical firms, municipalities, schools, and other organizations with critical information in books to protect and archive unique content. Whether you scan them yourself or outsource this function, the scanned books can be saved as PDF files which are securely stored and accessed from your computer so this critical information can have more value by being widely available to authorized parties.

The pharmaceutical industry estimates that launching new drugs takes approximately $1.5 billion and 12 years to go from “discovery” through trials and FDA approval to “delivery” (patient availability). With all of this research, time and money at stake, what if paper-based research in lab notebooks, EKGs and other documents were lost or not accessible for further research?

If intellectual property is the heart and soul of the biotech firm, then lab notebooks are the heart and soul of IP. So, what happens when something so important only exists on paper? Paper gets wet, burned, lost, and sometimes stolen. What does that mean? One word: risk.

Based on our many decades of collective lab notebook scanning experience with biotechs, pharmaceuticals and other research facilities, these are five things that you should use when thinking about having a partner scan your notebooks.