Call of Cthulhu - Library Use or That was Boring

In Call of Cthulhu, Library Use is a key skill, but what happens is that the academic characters goes to a library and does research while the rest of the characters go out into the field and get into trouble.

The issue is Library Use takes a few hours to a few days before they discover any new information. And that is usually only covered by either a single Library Use roll or a series of rolls.

Instead of waiting around, the non-academic investigators go and follow some existing leads and things actually happen to them like running into cultists, following people, being followed, NPC interactions, being ambushed, etc.

So, what is wrong with this? Well, the academic characters roll a few dice and that's it. Not very interesting or exciting. Whereas the other characters actually get to do fun things.

So, what can a GM do?

Make the research mysterious

Have whole tomes missing, or pages or sections of research material be torn out of books. Did cultists do it? Did another investigative group do it? Did a secret government agency do it?

Have key information be hidden deep in the restricted stacks through a maze of musty books. Require some personal skills such as Charm, Fast Talk, Intimidate, or Persuade to get into those areas or Stealth, Navigate, Track, and/or Locksmith.

Have the key information be misplaced. But once found, it is with other key information that the investigators never would have looked for. What the heck is this? Who put this here? Another researcher? Was it deliberately hidden or misfiled? For what purpose?

Have the needed material already checked out. Now they'll have to hunt down who checked it out and visit that person. Is that person dead? Is it a cultist? Is his house full of strange objects and books? Possible ally or enemy?

Make the library an unsafe place

Have cultists watch out for anybody looking up specific research topics. Once that is done, they are alerted and either follow the investigators, threaten them, and/or attack them. Do the investigators notice they're being watched or followed? Is the librarian suspicious? Does the librarian immediately call someone when the investigators aren't watching? Does the librarian tell the investigators that the material isn't available, but the investigators still find some of the material on the shelves?

Have the research material be dangerous in itself or has attracted dangerous creatures to it. Do the shadows darken when the investigators get closer to the tome? Are there strange sounds? Do the investigators lose SAN by just touching the book? Is the book bound in human skin? Does something try to take the tome away?

Bring the adventure to the library

While in the library, why not bring a separate section of the scenario to the investigators. Interrupt their research by a phone call where the investigators must leave the library and take care of another leg of the investigation. Make a reason where the non-academic investigators are unreachable or busy and only the academic investigators must be involved.

The best library to be doing research in Call of Cthulhu.