So I noticed that the channeling symbol has a picture of a hand in it grasping mana. I also noticed that Mordok's tome and libro mortuos take up the weapon or shield equipment spot, even though they're spellbooks. I also noticed that these equipment spells are entire spellbooks, and yet the spells they prepare come from another spellbook than themselves (the player's).
Knowing all of this, do mages really bring their spellbooks into the arena and risk getting mauled by a grizzly or something every time they open their spellbooks to plan spells? And if so why don't the spellbooks take up equipment slots on the mage? Are most spellbooks autonomous? Or do mages memorize their spellbooks ahead of time?