In many disciplines success depends on access to scarce resources, such as unique instruments. In large scale scientific collaborations, technologies have broadened access to scarce scientific and engineering resources. While broader access is often applauded, little attention has been focused on the problem of efficient and equitable resource allocation in the face of increased demand created through collaboratory use. This paper applies concepts from mechanism design to compare different

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... rce allocation schemes (RAD, Vickrey, and knapsack) in the laboratory. Experimental results show that knapsack achieves a more equitable distribution of resources than RAD or Vickrey, but that RAD and Vickrey are both more efficient than knapsack. The findings highlight the need for systematic exploration of allocation mechanisms within collaboratories, where simple optimization (e.g., knapsack) is likely to produce a sub-optimal match of resources to needs.