Every reply to me only talks about library access. Didn’t you have home libraries and magazine / newspaper / catalogue / newsletter subscriptions? No need to leave the house, even in Bumfuck USA.
Had an obscure question you really needed an answer for? You wrote to the pertinent specialty publication and an expert answered your query, either in the publication or in a personal note sent by…gulp…mail. I did it dozens and dozens of time.
It amazes me that people like me who actually lived pre-Internet paint a picture that getting information, feeding niche interests or keeping up to date on myriad things wasn’t really feasible until the net.