Too bad these huge and expensive books aren't available on the internet. They are't making the authors rich selling a few hundred copies at $200.
Many colleges and universities give lifetime library priveleges to graduates. That, plus interlibrary loan could make much off this material available.
My thought is why not make this stuff available on the internet, reinbursing the authors via university libraries? Anyon who has library priveleges could download the text, and anyone not affiliated with a library could join for a fee.
Google has the means and the motive to host a project like this.
You can spend a lot of money very quickly buying books and if you don't need them all you have is dust collectors. I have had great luck with my local library getting books.
The problem is with journals. I could spend the rest of my life in a cubicle reading journals and never keep up. And how am I supposed to put food on the table at the same time? I don't see any way around it. Even if all the journals were available online, you still couldn't keep up.
Sometimes libraries will buy a book if someone shows interest (like why don't you have a copy of this?). I've had some success doing this.