Years ago, when I returned to college after an enlistment in the USAF,

[The Genealogist]

12. I do miss aspects of "how it was" regarding the use of university libraries

I remember using good old interlibrary loan, photocopying articles from paper journals and books. Lugging around stacks of books. Most of that has been replaced I am sure with the internet.

I did nearly all my studying at the library. For study breaks, I would just walk among the books to stretch my legs, and sometimes read old magazines as well. One of the hard copy magazines I would read during study breaks was "Better Homes and Gardens," and many were from the WWII era. In grad school, I took a comparative religion course that focused largely on American civil religion, and immediately thought of certain ads I had seen in those Better Homes and Gardens magazines over the years. So, I wrote my big paper for the course on apocalyptic imagery and language in WWII American advertising. My favorite paper in grad school. My teacher loved it, and coerced me into presenting it at a conference in Chicago. I got positive feedback on it there too. In today's more net based environment, I'd probably never have gotten the idea for a successful paper.