Browsing the remote corners of the university library is a unique joy

My favourite part of the library was the "new book, journal" display that was updated each Friday. It became an important ritual to spend lunchtime perusing the new arrivals in comfortable surroundings provided for this purpose. This was more the case when I was in Aus in the 80-90's pre-web and there was a sense of academic isolation. I noticed when I moved to the UK that libraries made less effort to provide this kind of support. Whilst this coincided with the advent of the web, it took time before the academic content started to grow there. And I suspect it was more a cultural thing. Possibly familiarity with colleagues being in relative proximity over time lead to a drop in appreciation for publications and the activity of just browsing...

Much I have enjoyed the uplifting ambiance of the modern University library, with pale oak trim and purple-and-green soft seating in their wifi enabled study pods, the best experience was having a reader pass to Cambridge University library. To know that you are sharing the space with ten million books, and that after the lower floor's august joinery has given way to angle-iron supports and decades-old linoleum, you are there in the space with just the reason you entered, a pen and A4 pad, and 8 hours of browsing, reading and scribbling.