Seriously. I have friends who once worked in Agilent Labs. Now Agilent Labs is gone. I have had many professors and bosses who worked at Bell Labs. Now Bell Labs is gone.

There are small companies that do funded research. There are grants earmarked for companies like that, and it keeps them afloat. But you have to spend a lot of time just to raise small amounts of money.

A library? That's what I do...

(I'm funding my study time by working part time in chunks as a software contractor.)