Endless hours in the stacks, hunting for a paper, finding it, then hunting down the cited references, rinse and repeat. Shoving quarters into the photocopy machine to take the important ones home with me.

Some references were elusive. One important paper about a topic of study took months to track down, saved by interlibrary loan from another county.

Not long ago, 2007 or so, I was researching the history of an important mining camp. I had numerous references to a history book written in 1860 - first hand account of all the mines in the district. Found it in the special collections of the University library. To read it, I had to make an appointment, was escorted to a dark basement room, and was not allowed to bring anything but index cards and a pencil. Had to wear gloves. This book was dense with detail and I spent hours taking notes under the watching gaze of the librarian. Not how I like to study. Then, a few months later, I find it on Google books. I could download all 500 pages as a pdf and search by keyword. It was like Christmas morning and my birthday.