Yeah, I think workshops, libraries, labs are only useful if the GM restricts knowledge. IMO, your character needs to have a reason to know something before they should be allowed to roll to know that thing.
For example, my character is a world class mechanic, can put an internal combustion engine together with a rubber band, two paper clips, a penny, and a roll of duct tape. Somehow he finds himself in need of knowing how a laser works, creating a trap or whatever. My character's Scholarship and Craftsmanship are both pretty high, but a GM that restricts knowledge wouldn't simply let me roll to know exactly how to create a laser. My character's Scholarship and Craftsmanship are somewhat restricted to my area of expertise . . . mechanics, not physics. So in this case, I need to find a library. The University library fits the bill perfectly, so I go and do research (exposing my character to possible complications). But here again, we run into another problem. My character is poor so he doesn't have access to the proper tools and materials to create a laser. No doing it with rubber bands this time. Well darn, better find another plan.
Or . . . say my character also has a high resources skill and has upgraded his workshop a time or two, so he has a +5 workshop. The GM says, your workshop will have the tools and materials to create a laser. Sweet, now I can make a laser for my trap rather than running a length of fishing wire which would likely have gotten me caught setting up the trap . . . or whatever.
So yeah, I think the RAW could be implemented to good effect, it just depends if the players are on board for restrictions like that.
