The guides contained here aim to extend the current computing guide with other common tasks that may be unfamiliar to new users. In particular, compiling and installing application and libraries from source, and installing third-party Python and LaTeX packages.
They are intended as something of a last resort, and in general it is often
better to submit a helpdesk ticket.
A great many libraries, applications, and Python and LaTeX packages have
already been added to your Linux distro's package manager, and installing via
the package manager (probably aptitude) is then preferred (which only the
helpdesk can do on site-provided machines).
All guides here install into userspace, so you should have no problems despite
your limited user privileges.
These guides are intended for a specific site distribution, and not as a general guide. As noted above, there are generally better ways of achieving the same goals. If you manage your own system, or you come across this without having been explicitly pointed towards it, I strongly recommend that you do not follow the steps contained within! (The exception being Python, which follows a pretty standard procedure for installing into a user-owned directory, if you have cause to do that.)