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.
And then there are all of us, so enamored by tech, that we promote the destruction of serendipity in the stacks every step of the way because serendipity isn't searchable. Or something.
This is a tragedy, and the worst of it is that the people it's happening to don't realize what's going on.