Let the player take the book they're primarily using home to have a look in their own time.

At home I have a PHB1. So I tend to play PHB 1 characters. I also use an online feat database that breaches out of core. I'm planning on using a non core feat in the future.

If I go to my friends house for games and have to make a character I'll not start looking through the massive library. It's too much choice and time to take when we want to play.

Once I've got a character I might look in a book to see what's related but usually doesn't fit for whatever reason. My cleric wanted a prestige class and went all through the divine book without seeing anything he randomly qualified for.