Comment by JasonFruit

That experience was my education. Professors, classes, assigned work — all helpful, but at best secondary to the time I spent in the library, deepening and broadening my knowledge of the fields I cared about. I can't imagine how you could gain from the Internet and your classes the kind of knowledge I gained from those books in that library.

This is a tragedy, and the worst of it is that the people it's happening to don't realize what's going on.