This was my initial reaction as well. The key fallacy (and I hesitate to use such a "strong" word) is here: "Do I want to read a novel? I can have it delivered

This was my initial reaction as well. The key fallacy (and I hesitate to use such a "strong" word) is here: "Do I want to read a novel? I can have it delivered to my kindle in a matter of a few seconds and still not get out of bed." Not everyone can afford a Kindle, and most of the older texts kept by a library are not in eBook format. Interestingly, the "Internet age" has actually returned me to my library because of accessibility and cost effectiveness. My town is a member of the Fort Wort Public Library System, or MetrOPAC. It links together all of the Fort Worth libraries, along with several of the suburbs'.[1] The card issued by my city works at a couple dozen other libraries, and allows me to get a card at roughly ten more. MetrOPAC's card catalog is online[2] and even lets me have books or other material brought from another library to my own. It sounds like the "broken" library is the one the author went to. Because it is a publicly-supported institution, things like a HPC cluster or other specialized tools are impractical (though I'd be there every waking moment). Providing the knowledge to seek these out IS what a library can do. My library is always packed, and even though my city will get about $400,000 less in tax revenue this year (declining property values), the library is fully-funded and is getting a small budget increase because the citizens use and value it. That's what a library should be, in my eyes. Edited to add: Oh, and our wireless Internet access works well. ;) 1 - http://www.fortworthgov.org/library/branches/ http://www.fortworthgov.org/library/branches/ 2 - http://fwl.ipac.dynixasp.com/ipac20/ipac.jsp?profile= http://fwl.ipac.dynixasp.com/ipac20/ipac.jsp?profile=