Reading

Reading can substitute for battle experience. Learning advanced magic, and learning magic not in your alignment usually isn't possible without the Library.

Read about the game world. Books on history, trade, politics, art, religion, social interaction, science. You can even learn from reading fiction.

Periodicals are published in libraries 
Read current events as they happen.
Non-active party members explore the library on their own. You can talk to them to learn what they learned. This is to be more realistic so that the whole party really is learning.

Books have a timer and a limit to how much time spent reading it is valuable
The timer stops at the max read time. The time spent reading in a library is converted into intelligence

Books are found throughout the world. They contain secrets that you can't find otherwise.

Read about other people's quests.