I was told from a longtime highup Bethel source the reason they had the UN connection was so the representative brother could attend the meetings at the UN and then they would know what was going on with their view towards religion. They assumed they would have the inside edge on when they were going to turn on Babylon the Great. It had nothing to due with a library card. It had everything to do with inside information.
The ending of the group book study had to do with not enough locations, overuse of the KH for study nights, and especially not enough conductors and poor attendance. Another reason was the study groups getting away from the hardline views being all the same worldwide. More information control by having everyone together at the same time and same exact views being expressed. Some conductors brought in outside research, information and sometimes other viewpoints. That had to stop. Too much socializing was going on after the meetings and then problems with jealousy between groups, individuals not fitting in and other lack of support.
Simplification is the buzzword that is used and the pubs eat it up. How loving, thoughtful, etc. Money and lack of contributions are the main reasons for no more subscriptions, cheap looking books / bibles, limits on amount of literature a cong. can order.