Somewhat related...I've read about "copy shops" in medieval Paris. Since most university students couldn't afford to buy whole books of their own, professors wo

Somewhat related...I've read about "copy shops" in medieval Paris. Since most university students couldn't afford to buy whole books of their own, professors would deposit books at one of these shops along with a reading list of passages. Students would then buy scribal copies as "course packets". This is a really, really old phenomenon.