I don't think there's anything in the story to suggest that the retro-futurism was because of a lack of imagination regarding future, alien-yet-familiar, sustainable information technology.

Perhaps the point was, the book aesthetic was important to the character.

> I wonder what books for a creature with three arms would look like.

Indeed, the book was probably designed for space travel, i.e. usable outside human limits. Perhaps, given the proper circumstances, the book would propel itself through the vacuum of space by way of induced charge ..