That is certainly not the case everywhere in the UK. Many humanities departments cannot afford to have enough copies of all the set texts. Also many Science de

That is certainly not the case everywhere in the UK. Many humanities departments cannot afford to have enough copies of all the set texts. Also many Science departments insist on the newest editions of books which the library will not stock past one or two reference copies. Most university libraries will get you books on request, but that often doesn't cover set texts (they will ask you to wait for the reference copy).