What are the best free institutional equipment planning pages for learning about shared lab purchases?

Here are some of the best free, institutionally oriented planning pages for learning about shared lab equipment purchases—especially useful for core facilities, departments, and multi-user labs.

Strong free resources

1. NIH Shared Instrumentation / Shared Resource resources

• Why it’s useful: NIH pages often explain how shared equipment is justified, managed, and funded in academic settings.
• Good for: Understanding multi-user governance, access models, and grant-supported purchases.
• Search terms:
  • “NIH shared instrumentation planning”
  • “NIH shared resource equipment”
  • “NIH S10 application guidance”

2. University core facility planning guides

Many universities publish public pages on how they manage shared equipment or core facility investments.

• Why it’s useful: These are usually practical and institution-specific, covering access, recharge rates, scheduling, maintenance, and user governance.
• Good for: Real-world examples of shared purchase planning.
• Examples to look for:
  • “core facility equipment policy”
  • “shared equipment policy”
  • “multi-user instrument purchase guide”

Common universities with useful public material include:

• MIT core facilities
• Stanford research cores
• UC system shared equipment / core facilities
• Harvard core facility pages
• University of Michigan shared instrument or core guides

3. Core facility association pages

• ABRF (Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities)
  • Why it’s useful: Offers guidance, talks, and best practices on shared research infrastructure.
  • Good for: Governance, business models, staffing, and equipment sustainability.
• AAMC / research administration resources sometimes have institution-facing material.

4. Vendor-neutral planning tools from universities

Some institutions provide free planning templates or guides for capital equipment requests.

• What to look for:
  • equipment justification forms
  • capital request templates
  • shared use agreements
  • space/utilization planning documents
• Useful search terms:
  • “capital equipment planning template university”
  • “shared instrument justification form pdf”
  • “core facility business plan template”

5. Research office / grants office pages

• Why it’s useful: These often explain how shared equipment is handled in proposals and how institutions evaluate multi-user purchases.
• Good for: Budgeting, ownership, depreciation, compliance, recharge models.

What makes a good shared-lab equipment planning page?

Look for pages that discuss:

• Who owns the equipment
• Who can use it
• Scheduling/access rules
• Maintenance and service contracts
• Space and utilities needs
• Cost sharing / recharge rates
• Governance and decision-making
• Lifecycle and replacement planning

Best search strategy

Try combinations like:

• site:.edu shared equipment policy
• site:.edu core facility equipment planning
• site:.edu capital equipment request template
• site:.edu shared instrument policy pdf
• site:.edu multi-user laboratory equipment

If you want the most practical starting points

I’d recommend prioritizing:

1. NIH shared instrumentation guidance
2. University core facility policy pages
3. ABRF best-practices resources
4. University capital equipment request templates

If you want, I can also give you a curated list of actual page links from universities and NIH that are especially useful for shared lab equipment planning.