This is an irrationally huge deal to me. There's so much material one has student access to at a decent college library. I, as 'Joe Public' am locked out of almost all of it and am forced to scrounge around on less-than-legal websites for books and papers. It's infuriating. Hell, I'd pay to have that access, but many universities adamantly refuse to provide it, even at cost.

Somebody is rent seeking.

I would wait 1-2 weeks after class started to buy books. Especially if the teacher decided you need 6 of them to finish the class. It was usually pretty clear which ones they were going to use by that point.

If that's true, it's a huge change from when I was in the university. But it seems implausible in the extreme, IE, I'd call bs here. University libraries wouldn't want to buy class textbook 'cause they're worthless at the end of the term. Students are expected to buy (electronic, DRM'd) textbooks are at student stores, not check them out of libraries. Libraries are not expected to service individual course but to be places of general research. Professors have the whole Internet to give links for supplemental material. Photocopied "Course Readers" is another avenue.

Implausible in the extreme to have forty or so copies of a book?

And most textbooks aren’t republished every year. You can use them from one year to the next. Why would they be worthless at the end of the term?

Think of a classic CS text like the Dragon Book. They’re on the second edition since 1986.

Since the fundamentals of the material are unlikely to change within the span of a year, the revisions to the textbooks are mostly cosmetic in nature—updated graphic design, rearranged problem sets (to deter the used book market), etc.

Also note: I'm speaking about the US. Things could very well be different elsewhere.

Sure, if a bunch of random people show up and take them all at the same time, which prevents actual students from using them, it may be a problem. In practice, I don't remember ever having this issue.

Access to the library was free for all, you didn't have to be a student or anything.

So I don't think it would really help much.

If it's a public university then your tax dollars already do.

I take 1 student a year for practice placements for a month and the university gives me full library access.

Work out a sharing system with your colleagues and you could get this access for 1 rotation every 5+ years.

The only question is whether the cost of the college courses exceed the benefit of the cheaper health insurance, and whether I wish to dedicate the time to take the classes

[0] I didn't have a driver's license, too young at the first high school, and insurance was too much for my parents or me to afford at the second.

And some universities will definitely require ID to enter the library.

Edit: I also think it may be for safety reasons, they want only those authorized to be there to have access. This is most seen in closed universities where most/all buildings require IDs.