While playing around with the 2 tables, I realised that it would be really handy if you could manage your libraries in a group, lets call it a "Collection" for the lack of a better term.
In https://github.com/KiCad/kicad-symbols there is a file called sym-lib-table, this file can be used as the "Collection List", then in the table editor you could "Include" a Collection by adding a reference to that file something like:
(sym_lib_table
(lib (name xxx) ..... )
(collection (name kicad) (type ....) (uri <some/path>/kicad-symbols/sym-lib-table) (descr "KiCAD Symbol library") (chksum....))
(lib........))
Then in the table view it would be represented as 1 single row, but in general use it would behave as if the libraries were at that point in the system sym-lib-table.
In the component chooser you see it something like this:
Library name
-> Part name
-> Part name
KiCAD Symbol library
-> Library name
->-> Part name
Symbol library tables can be linked so changes to the file formats are unnecessary. We would have to add some way to keep a list of library tables. The project file seems like the logical place for this list. We already have two "groups", global and project specific. I'm not sure how useful more groups would be but it is doable.